


Zootopia - Brave New World

by AnthroLover



Category: Heroes (TV), Heroes - Fandom, Heroes Reborn (TV), Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Anthropomorphic, Alternate Universe - Zootopia Fusion, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Dimension Travel, Fantasy, Gen, Movie Spoilers, Mystery, Post-Movie(s), Post-Series, Science Fiction, Series Spoilers, Zootopia Universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-07
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2018-12-12 08:51:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 187,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11733708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnthroLover/pseuds/AnthroLover
Summary: One young man with very special talents ˜dies˜ in his own homeworld, and wakes up into a world that is very different from what he is used to, where he finds some interesting figures. The trouble is that, he is not the only one who came from his world, and each one of them brought heir own abilities along with them to this new world. Now, as he tries to deal with this new and differnt world, and to find his place in it, his presence will change this world forever...





	1. Ending and Beginning

The night was calm and it seemed to have no problems. But of course, as usual, it was only appearance.

In the middle of the desert street, an old building was laying there. Decayed by time, and damaged by the years that had passed. It was old and decrepit, and it was the kind of place that, in many movies, would be a perfect spot for a hideout and for the base of a villain.

Funny how life sometimes mimics the movies, as this place just happened to be really a hideout for someone who plotted something.

* * *

"I almost have it ready now." Said a man as he made the last few checks in his laptop. He was a small man, no more than 4.2 feet tall, and he was very scrawny. He looked to be around his late twenties or early thirties, and he had red hair in his head, pale skin, and green colored eyes. He was wearing long jeans pants, white shirt and a blue colored jacket over it.

As he tipped the keyboard of his laptop, by his side a great machine was analyzing a great glass container, full to the brim with a red colored liquid. The machine made several analyses and it showed the results back into his laptop.

He could not understand enough of the whole information that was in there, but he was able to force himself to learn enough from the scientists that were his partners in this business to know that it was almost ready.

"This is great!" He said as he looked to the screen of his laptop. "Now all I need is…"

Just as he was about to say something else, he heard some sounds into the outside of the place he was in. As he did, he turned his head to look, and he was able to hear man screaming something in the outside, while he could hear also the sounds of heavy objects hitting against each other and see some kind of light coming from the door.

He knew what it was. He knew **who** it was. While many would be deeply worried with that, this man, however, smiled to himself, as he was able to feel very confident due to what was going to happen.

"Speaking of the devil…"

A few moments later, the noises and the faintly light stopped, and two figures burst through the door. They were both in their late twenties. One of them was a young man, with light-blonde hair and a young face and white skin. He was wearing long jeans pants, white sneakers, white T-Shirt with the logo of a predator feline's skull in the front in red. He looked at the man angrily and for a moment, his green eyes seemed almost to glow as he looked at the other man.

By his side was a girl, she was in her middle twenties and she had short light-brown colored hair. Her eyes were hazelnut colored and her skin was tan. She had a very nice body, and she was wearing long indigo pants, tank-top pink shirt and sports shoes. She had a look very much the same as the boy, and she had the same look of anger in her face.

The man simply smiled at them, particularly at the boy. "Mr. Hunter! What a pleasant surprise, I was exactly thinking about you." Said the man, closing his laptop and walking in direction to them, while both of them seemed to be ready to attack if the man tried anything.

"Give up, Stoats." The young man, called Hunter said, and he continued to look at him, his green eyes acquiring some kind of shine colored shine while he looked at him, "We are not alone in here. Our friends are in the building, and we will all get you."

"Oh, yes, Alex Hunter, always bringing his little friends to play with him." The man mocked as he stood at a distance from the two of them, and he said, "Tell me, do we all should expect one of them coming to save your sorry neck once more?"

"This time is different." Alex Hunter said, and he added, "I learned a lot of things and I had a lot of time to practice." He said, and he moved his hands to the side, as if he was ready to do something, "Want me to show you?" He said with a smug grin, and the man was actually able to grin too.

"It would be nice, but I think I would prefer you to give me what I want." He said as he continued to walk. "You still have it, don't you?"

"Like I would ever work with you!" Alex Hunter screamed back. The man looked at him for a while, and slowly shook his head from one side to another.

"You know, I still don't understand why you want so much to stop me." The man said, and he seemed to be almost honest as he said that. "I mean, if I just did it would be so much better for everyone, including for you! You wouldn't have to be different from the others anymore, and you would have a lot more of your little friends to play with." He said that as if he was telling to him all of the advantages of buying a new cellphone, as if the situation was totally different from the life or death that it was.

Alex looked at him, and he said, "You still don't get it, do you?" There was a silence as they simply looked at each other. As they stared, the building shook slightly with the distant sounds of explosions and shots that seemed to be happening into the very same building. It were Alex friends, and both he and the other man, Stoats, knew that pretty well.

"You have lost, Stoats." Alex said to him, "It is over."

Stoats smiled to him, and he said, "You have very interesting little friends, Hunter." He said, turning around and walking in direction to the vault full of the red liquid. "I too have interesting friends, and guess what?" He turned back to look at Alex and the girl, "Some of my friends just happens to know some of yours."

Alex shared a look with the girl, and they both looked back at Stoats, and Alex was about to open his mouth to ask him what he meant, when Stoats beat him to it. "Mr. Bastille!"

It took only a few seconds to other two people approach them, coming from behind Stoats.

"Let me go!" Said a feminine voice that Alex found to be terrifyingly familiar. Soon, he could see the owner of that voice: it was a woman; she looked to be in her earlier thirties. She had light blonde hair, green eyes and she was very beautiful, slender and muscled in the right places. She was wearing orange colored t-shirt, long white skirt, and pink colored shoes. Well, one of them was pink colored, while the other seemed to have disappeared and now it was only possible to see the white sock she wore underneath it. She had a few wounds in her face, along with a cut in her cheek, and she looked to be fighting to the man who was holding her.

He was a little taller than she was, and he looked much muscled. His hair was brown colored, his eyes were of a hazelnut color, and his skin was dark-colored. He was wearing a good choice of clothes, with a brown colored suit with black social shoes and yellow colored tie around his neck. He looked like he was ready to go to a social event as his hand held the woman by the arm, keeping a strong grip on her as he dragged her to the line of sight of the two other ones.

Both of them widened their eyes, as they immediately recognized both of them.

"Misty!" Alex cried, giving one step forward, and immediately, the man holding her tightened his grip in her arm, making her cry out in pain as she led her own hand to the place that was being held. Alex stopped in his tracks, and the woman looked at him, and she mouthed to him: "I'm sorry."

"Bastille, you piece of shit!" The girl who was at Alex side shouted at him, hate in her eyes as she looked what Bastille had done with the woman, Misty.

Bastille looked at her, and he said, "Miss Thompson, we have to stop meeting like that!" He spoke as if it was some kind of social meeting, and he looked at Alex, "And Mr. Hunter… it is always a delight to see you." He sounded awfully confident and courting as he said that, as if he really believed that to be nothing more than a formal meeting. While this, he continued to have a tight grip into the arm of the woman, making her wince in pain, as the strength with which he held her was starting to cause bruises in the skin of her arms.

"Bastille! Stoats! You bastards!" Alex said, and he gave a step forward, but Bastille immediately brought his other hand and grabbed the woman, Misty, by the face, and he said, "Ah, ah, ah! No!"

Immediately, Alex stopped dead in his tracks, and Bastille looked at him with a smirk, as he said, "You know me very well, Hunter. You know very well what I can do to her in a blink of an eye."

Yes, Alex knew. He already faced Bastille in the past, and he knew that Bastille could actually kill Misty if he wanted, and he only would need a few seconds, and even Alex would not be able to react fast enough to save her. He could only glare angrily at him, and then back at Stoats, who had a very similar smirk in his face as if he had just won in the lottery, and that completely infuriated Alex.

"I already saw how low you can sink, Stoats." Alex said, the disgust and the hate very clear in his voice, "Still, when I see you going so low like that, I still get surprised."

"Oh, thank you, Mr. Hunter. I'll take that as a compliment." Stoats said, and he then said, "Well, we are both very smart, and so, I'll not play any games and go straight to business." He was speaking with a confidence that was unnerving Alex to his very core, making him want to go right to there and strangle Stoats with his two bare hands. Stoats didn't noticed, or pretended not to notice it, as he pointed to his back, to the glass vault full of the red liquid, and he said, "See that? I have it almost completely ready. It was hard to get it done after the recipe was destroyed, and I had to work with only that little sample I got, but I just got it finished! The only thing missing is… well, you know what is missing, don't you?" He asked, and he walked in his direction, with that same smirk in his face, "After all, you have it with you. You still have it right? Just give it to me and I'll let your friend go, otherwise, well, I can't promise that your friend will be fine after what Mr. Bastille will do with her."

As he spoke, Bastille brought Misty's face very next to his own, giving a smile to the two, as he spoke, "I'm sorry, I have nothing against your friend, but you know, he is the boss, and he is paying me." Bastille spoke, as if he was simply stating something like "it is only business", or something of the like.

Of course, this did not helped one bit into the anger that the two young adults were feeling towards the duo in front of them. "What about that." Alex friend said as she stepped forward, her look fiery as if she wanted to open holes into them with her vision. "I'll throw you two across the room, keep the next fifteen minutes kicking your butts and then throw both of you by the windows, and me, Alex and Misty go back to our homes after setting this building and everything on it on fire?" She spoke as she clutched her fists, as if she was ready to fight.

"Try." Bastille said, squeezing harder into Misty's face, making her wince and groan from the pain, "Try anything to see what I can do with this pretty face." He spoke, but he somehow was managing to turn a threat into a simple statement, as if that was nothing more than a friendly conversation, not a situation with a hostage, as what it was truly looking like. The girl bared her teeth as she seemed ready to attack him, and Bastille held Misty's face, as if he too was ready to do something.

"Linda, no!" Alex said, and she stopped, and she looked at him.

"But, Alex!" She said, and Alex said, "We can't take risks!" He spoke as he looked at her, and he looked at Bastille, and Linda also looked, and they saw him with that confident, almost courting smile as he held Misty's face, as if he was ready to break her jaw with just one hand. Linda also knew Bastille, and she knew that, despite being very good in fighting, there was no way that she could do something to Bastille before he was able to do something to Misty. She hated to admit it, but now, it looked like she was losing.

Like they both were losing.

Stoats looked very intently at their reactions, as if he was trying to read what they were going to do next. He was the kind of person that never let himself be caught off guard, and he knew that the only reason why he lasted that long in the world was because he knew when problem was coming to him, and he knew what to do next to keep his safety. He was sure that these two would put the safety of their friend in first place, but still, he was smart enough to keep an eye on them, to be sure that they would not play anything on him.

He continued to look at them, and he was soon getting calmer and more confident as he saw that they were slowly seeing that they didn't had much of a choice. Just as he expected, these two were far too sentimental.

"So, I guess we can make a deal here?" Stoats asked, and Alex looked at him, a look of the purest contained hate, a hate that come into his voice as he spoke.

"I hope you rot in hell."

Stoats laughed, and he said, "Kid, hell would spit me back!" He walked, and he said, "So, we have a deal? What I want for your little friend's safety?" He spoke, and the sounds of explosions continued to reverberate into the building, but all of the ones in the room were far too focused into the current situation to actually give it very much attention. Besides the fact that, in the past months or even years, they had passed by way too much things to let themselves be shaken so easily. "I suggest you to think fast, for sometimes, Mr. Bastille can't get very much a grip on himself." Stoats spoke, and Bastille gave him a humorous glance, as if that was a very good joke, but he continued to have a vice-like grip into Misty, not giving her even the slightest chance to escape him.

But of course, he didn't covered her mouth, so she spoke. "Don't do it, Alex! They will kill all of us once they have-HMMMPH!" She said as her mouth was suddenly covered by Bastille, who used a hand to cover her mouth while he passed his arm around her from behind, immobilizing her.

"Shhh! Talking too much can cause serious trouble, lady." Bastille said as he held her mouth shut and her body immobilized. Linda saw that, and she grunted in anger, and she looked at him, stretching her fingers in her hands, as if they were itching for her to do something to him. However, she knew that she could not do much before Bastille could do something to Misty, and Misty was a very dear friend to her and Alex, and so, she was not willing to risk her being hurt by that bastard. Being so powerless was something that she was not used to, and it made Linda completely mad, and wanting to simply go there and give that idiot of Bastille a punch right in the face to break his nose and wipe away that stupid smile of his face.

Alex looked at them as it seemed that they had put him between a rock and a hard place. He knew that they would to hesitate into hurting or even killing Misty if they had to, but he also knew very well that Misty was right. Alex was far from doubting that Stoats and Bastille would both kill them once they got what they wanted, to be sure that they would never get in their way again and also to get back at them for the things they had put them through in the past months.

Alex knew that giving them what they wanted would be a disaster for everyone, so it was absolutely out of question, but he also knew that refusing and letting them hurt Misty until he decided to cooperate was something that went completely against his morals and his very nature. Alex found himself in a difficult situation, but he remembered himself that other of his friends were in there, and that they would most likely come to help as soon as they were done clearing the place from the rest of Stoats' men.

Alex looked at Stoats, and he said, "You are never going to get away with this, Stoats, and you know that." He spoke with confidence, and he stepped forward, as if it was a way to say that he was not afraid of Stoats or Bastille, and he said, "There are more of us than you."

Stoats looked at him, and he chuckled, shaking his head slowly as he walked up to Alex. "Mr. Hunter, didn't I already told you that I have my own friends? Matter of fact, I think some of them had already started to have acquaintances with your friends right now." As he spokes, more explosion sounded across and building, and for the first time, Alex realized that they could be caused by more than just his friends.

Alex mentally cursed and kicked himself for not predicting that Stoats would resort to hiring people like Bastille to fight for him and to protect him. He had really not predicted this kind of thing, and he completely hated himself for so. Not only he had put himself in a difficult situation, but he also put the rest of his friends and allies, people who trusted him, into a serious danger by bringing them to a fight that they were not ready to face. They hadn't trained and got prepared to this kind of thing.

Stoats smiled to him as he approached, "Your little friends are not coming to help you this time, Mr. Hunter." He said that with a prepotency that truly filled Alex with anger for him, and made him want to walk to there and break Stoats' teeth even more than he already did. Stoats continued to walk to him, and he said, "So, back to our little business, do we have a deal, yes or no?"

Alex was cornered, and he knew it. He gave glances to everyone around him. He looked at Misty, who was looking at him with pleading yes, shaking her head, while Bastille continued to hold onto her, keeping her immobilized and silent. He looked at Linda, who looked as helpless as him. Alex knew that she hated to be in situations like that, powerless and without any kind of action. She looked down as she knew the situation was dare, and that they didn't had many options in the given moment.

Alex finally looked back at Stoats, who still had that arrogant smile in his face, and that shine in his eyes that Alex came to recognize and to hate with all of his might. Still, he knew that what the answer was. Mindy was far too important to let her be harmed. He knew that Stoats was most likely going to backstab them, but still, Mindy's safety came first.

Alex knew that what he was about to do was a betrayal of their goal, of what he had promised to his friends, and even the promise that he had made to his mother more than fifteen years ago. But, in the current situation, Alex knew that he could still somehow gain the upper hand somehow, if he was able to think enough. Right now, he knew that the only way to make things work out somehow was to give to Stoats what he wanted.

To turn things around, he needed to first give to Stoats the impression that he had won.

So, Alex looked to him, and he slowly lowered his head, as if to signal that he had accepted it and that he was defeated. Everyone looked at him, Linda with anger for being defeated like that, by these cowards. Misty with a desperate look, and also some guilty, as if she was the responsible for the failure of their goal that they had planned so carefully in the last months. Bastille had the tranquil look and smile in his face, feeling that he had indeed scored some points and that he had done a good work and that he had managed to grant his own paycheck by helping Stoats to get what he wanted. And Stoats, he had the biggest grin possible, as he had finally won, and after so long, he was finally going to get what he had planned for the past years, and it was Alex Hunter himself who was going to give it to him. He had finally won.

Nothing could ruin this moment.

As he enjoyed the feeling of victory, Stoats walked to Alex, and was about to say something, when suddenly, the lights started to flick. Everyone stopped and looked up, as they saw that the lights were going crazy. Actually, there was a lot of things going crazy. The nearby cellphones and watches were going crazy, and the machines that were scanning the red fluid started to go crazy all of sudden, as Stoats' laptop started to buzz and to show all kind of confusing messages in the screen.

It took a few seconds to people to make sense of that, and Stoats looked at Alex. "What kind of trick is that, Hunter?"

Alex had no idea of that. This was not his doing, and he had absolutely no idea of who or what was doing it. He was about to say that he had nothing to do with that, when suddenly, the whole building seemed to give a sudden jolt, knocking everyone off their feet. Bastille let go of Misty as they both feel into the ground, and Misty was dazzled as she was in the ground and not free, but Bastille was soon able to get on his knees and look around. Alex and Linda too were getting to their feet, while Stoats looked around, completely confused to what was going on.

And before anyone else could make another movement or make sense of what was going on, there was a sound, loud, sounding like something that maybe you could hear from a sci-fi movie. It seemed to make the whole building vibrate. It took a few more seconds before another jolt came, and this time, Alex, Linda, and Bastille were able to keep their ground, while Misty and Stoats were still in the ground. Stoats was crawling into the ground, trying to reach the laptop and the vault with the red liquid, when the building jolted once more.

As the building shook with each jolt, the flickering of the lights and the strange behavior of everything electronic around constantly followed the sound that was like the buzz of the turbine of a spaceship continued. Soon, there was a sound coming from the building itself, almost as if it was breaking apart.

The people in the room all looked around, and soon, they were feeling a gust of wind, and they looked over, in time to see the doors being ripped from the knobs, and being sucked into some kind of vortex. Everyone in the room cried out in surprise, as the vortex started to spread and expand, as if it was some kind of tornado, taking the room. Alex hold on to Linda's hand, to avoid her to be sucked.

As he tried to get to his feet, Bastille was slowly moving away from the vortex. That was something that he had not been warned about, and was not in his paycheck. Misty was still in the ground, and she was covering herself as she was slowly dragged into the ground, but she was trying to hold onto the ground to avoid being sucked. Stoat was moving in direction to the vault, as if he wanted to reach it and be away from the vortex, but soon, the vault jolted as the strength of the vortex, which sucked everything in the room, almost as if a black hole.

Everyone looked at the vortex, as it seemed to almost pulsate, before it sprung forward, expanding and encompassing all of them and the room itself.

* * *

Outside of the building, sirens sounded as police cars were approaching the place. They had received a call from someone who told them to be in there to arrest a dangerous group, someone who called himself a "good citizen" and who claimed that the criminals would be in there, beaten up and ready to be delivered.

As they approached, they could see the building, and they could also see the light coming from the inside of the building. As they approached, however, they saw that the building was seemingly jolting, as it moved to the inside, when suddenly the building started to tear itself apart.

As it did, it was possible to see a spiraling vortex inside of it, it glowed and it seemed to be sucking out the building like a whirlpool. Soon, the building was breaking apart as it was sucked inside of the vortex, which now formed a great ball.

The police stopped their cars at a distance from the building, and the officers came out of their vehicles and they stared in disbelief at the spiraling orb that sucked the building all to itself. As soon as the building as a whole had disappeared, the orb swallowed itself and disappeared completely, leaving behind only a cloud of dust into the empty space where once there was a building.

The officers looked at it, amazed, and all of them thinking the same thing:

What the fuck just happened?

* * *

Alex took a few moments to be able to make sense of what was going on. He knew that he was not in the floor anymore. He was spinning, or at least that was the feeling that he had as he was feeling like there was no up or down in there, but he knew that his body was moving, and that he was moving in some short of circle, and that something was anchoring him and preventing him from flying away.

"ALEX!" Linda's voice finally made Alex snap back to reality and open his eyes, and he saw her. Linda was holding on his hand, and they were both spinning. She was the anchor that was keeping him from flying away.

Alex looked at her, and he looked back around himself. He saw pieces of the building flying around them, colliding with each other as they were into some kind of hurricane. Alex took only a few moments to realize that they were inside that same vortex that had sucked everything.

Alex was completely baffled by what was happening, but he was much more worried on Linda to actually give it the proper attention.

She was looking as scared as he was, and she was holding on to him for her dear life. She too had no idea of where they were and what was going on. She was afraid, and it was rare to see her show this kind of emotion, and Alex knew it well.

Reaching out, he grabbed both her hands and kept a good grip on them as he pulled himself in direction to her, and she did the same to him. They both were now keeping a grip on each other, as if they were each other's only anchor to the world and to all that they knew, and it could very well be the case.

As they spun into the vortex, two pieces of the wall of the building they were in collided, and they exploded, causing a roar as they crumbled into bricks, pieces of concrete and scrapped iron. Linda cried out as the sound reverberated through them and around them, and Alex pulled her close, and spun his own body, to protect her from the debris.

Luckily, said debris seemed to be stuck into their own flow inside that vortex, and they all floated away from them. Alex barely felt more than one or two very small pieces of concrete and a lot of dust, coating his clothes and his hair. Alex barely cared, and he only looked back at Linda.

She looked back at him, and after a while, something else behind her caught Alex's attention, making his eyes widen. He immediately pushed her away, but kept a hold of her hands, keeping her linked to him as both of them laid into the horizontal.

In that same moment, a big piece of wall passed by the place they were, and their position allowed them to slip right over the window in it. The wall passed by them and collided with another piece, breaking apart and booming inside the vortex, which seemed to only grow in power and speed as both of the young adults spun inside of it.

It was getting harder to keep a grip into Linda's hand, and Alex was trying, but the strength of the vortex was pulling them apart just like an hurricane would do, and slowly the hands were slipping from each other. At a given moment, one of the hands slipped, and now Alex and Linda were holding on to each other only with one hand.

"Linda! Hold on!" Alex cried out, and Linda looked at him with fear.

"I… can't…" She said, and soon, their hands started to slip from each other. Neither of them had enough strength to hold into that, and after a while, their hands slipped.

"LINDA!"

"ALEX!"

They both cried out as they were pulled away from each other, both of them spinning. Alex tried to keep an eye for Linda, but soon, he lost her. He looked at all sides, trying to keep himself stable as he spun, but it was almost impossible, and no matter where he looked, he could not see Linda, and neither could he hear her voice.

A million thoughts passed by Alex head, all at the same time, but he was unable to make any sense of them. All that was happening was sudden, it was something that he had never experienced before, and it was making very hard to take a grip on things and make any sense of what was actually going on.

As Alex spun, he thought about his friends, and he wondered what was of them, if they had been caught into that same strange vortex, along with him, Linda, Misty, Bastille and Stoats. Of course, he would never feel sorry for these two pieces of trash, but he could not avoid feeling the worst possible feeling as he thought about Linda and Misty, and all of his friends, by that matter.

Alex wondered about all of them, ad about how that thing caught them, and if they were all as scared as he was as they were floating somewhere into that giant vortex of light. Alex also would wonder why he could not see or hear any of them, just as Linda had suddenly vanished from his sight just a few moments ago. However, he could not think of that, for he was far too worried about his current situation to let his mind ask itself these stupid and trivial questions.

He continued to spin in there, as if he was in a whirlpool, and as he spun, he could swear that the vortex was becoming brighter, as if the light the composed it was starting to focus and to become more powerful. As it did, Alex opened his eyes, he could see the vortex around him becoming more vivid, and it was almost as if the light was closing in above him.

Alex felt like he had been pulled into another vortex, as his body made a sudden turn to a direction, and he felt like the vortex he was in was smaller and was much more powerful. He could barely keep track of his own position as he turned to all directions at the same time, and the light of the vortex blinded and dazzled him, and after a while, he felt like the light itself was being poured over him, and it burned as if molted iron was being poured over him

Alex cried out as that burning feeling passed by him, into his skin, and then into his flesh, and it finally seemed to be reaching his very bones.

That was it. Alex was going to die. He never imagined that this was how he was going to end. His whole life started to pass in front of his eyes like a HD movie. He saw every single happening of his life, big and small, passing to him again, as if he was reliving his own life from the beginning to that very same moment of ending.

He had a good life. Alex just realized it. Despite all the problems and tribulations that he passed, he had lived fully to his potential. Or at least, that was the feeling that he got. Even if at some points, his life has been excessively hard, or painful, in the end, Alex realized that he had lived it fully, and that he had, in fact, made very good things with his life while he lived it, and made a lot of friends.

 _Well…. At least we stopped Stoats_. Alex thought to himself, even though the thought did not truly gave him comfort for knowing that his friend could be, in that very moment, sharing the same fate that he was having now.

But… it actually was not that bad. The hot feeling was searing, but at that moment, it was starting to calm down, to become more bearable, until it became a warm feeling, and now, it was vanishing slowly, and leaving his body cold.

That was what was like to die?

Actually it was not that bad.

Alex let out a sigh as the feeling of heat left completely his body, leaving him feeling cold, as if he was taken by a sudden gust of wind during the winter, and so, his mind started to go dark as he felt the vortex pulling him to whatever it was what could it be his final destination.

And he was almost arriving in there now...

* * *

A fox took a deep breath of the night air by the window of the car, before letting it out in a sigh. "Ahh, Zootopia's night air is amazing." Said Nick Wilde as he admired the nocturnal lights of the city. Of course, being a fox meant that he was nocturnal by nature, and he was used to the night, actually, it brought him memories of the times that he used to wander through the streets of that city at night, doing all kinds of stuff that many other people would not be proud to talk about.

By his side, the bunny Judy Hopps, who was driving, took a sip of her coffee, and she looked at him, saying, "Yeah, these night shifts are way too easy for you, right?" She was smiling as she said that, and he partner looked at her and smiled back, before taking one more bite of that delicious blueberry pie that had been left of the small surprise party that Judy had prepared for him.

It was not his birthday, but it was a special day, nonetheless. Today, it made exactly one year since Nick had graduated into the police academy and joined the ZPD as a law officer.

Nick could still barely believe it. If more than one year ago someone had told him that he would be in there, wearing the police uniform, with a badge on his chest, inside a police car, making night patrols with his partner and best friend, who was a bunny, Nick would surely have laughed about it all.

But indeed, it had happened. The event of the Night Howlers Case was a distant memory, and still, Nick knew that it had changed his life forever, for it had brought him to meet Judy Hopps, his "Carrots", who turned his life to the most unexpected direction, and strangely, Nick had welcomed that change with open arms as it proved to come for the better.

Since then, Nick and Judy lived many adventures as police officers, of course, their first cases were the light kind, like some stolen values and some vandalism, however, as time went on, they started to go deeper into Zootopia, and they saw a bit more of the kinds of crimes that you could find in its dark underbelly. Kidnapping, aggressions, drug dealing, organized crime, and even the occasional murderer investigation, even though there were not many of them in

Zootopia as a whole, there were still as many as it was to expect of a big city. It was a transition that proved to be quite a difficult deal for the two police officers, but they had already matured enough to be able to deal with this kind of stuff.

Later on, Chief Bogo himself would admit to them that he had, for a while, kept them both away from these kinds of cases, until they were in the force for long enough to be ready to deal with the more serious cases. Of course that this made Judy a little offended that the chief had thought that they were not ready to deal with the serious things that Zootopia had to offer, but still, she understood that they needed to show that they were able to deal with the less severe crimes to be ready to deal with the more serious ones. In fact, many young cadets needed to be more familiarized with the work of the police before they had matured enough to be ready to coupe with the kinds of crimes that involved dangerous criminal masterminds, violent drug dealers and the murderers that lurked into the shadows of the city, independent of the species.

Nick himself had some experience with the underworld of Zootopia, and he already heard a lot about these guys, but still, he always kept his distance from them, but now, with this new job, he saw himself forced to face some of them head-on to do his job. He had learned a lot from Zootopia that he himself didn't knew, but sure, this didn't affected his natural confident self, and neither did it made any kind of visible damage into Judy's own kind and brave heart, always jumping at each new case and going after every lead that they got.

They had been partners for exactly one year today, and Judy, of course, prepared to him a small surprise. Nothing too big or fancy, only some close friends and a few blueberry pies that were courtesy of a "business partner of her parents". They were delicious, of course, and even more for Nick loved blueberries, and everyone else liked them. It felt very nice to have people around complimenting him for the time in the ZPD, especially carrots, who had always been supportive to him ever since the beginning, Nick had indeed a lot to thank that miraculous bunny, who turned his life around in the most amazing way ever since they met.

But, of course, only because was the anniversary of his joining of the ZPD, this did not stopped their boss, "Officer Buffalo Butthead" from assigning them to yet another night patrolling of Zootopia, and these usually tended to be quite boring.

Sure, Zootopia was the kind of city that never truly slept, as it had a good deal of nightlife, but these patrols usually were the ones with the time of which the activity was lesser, and so, the nightshifts, while being the calmer, were also boring. Of course, the time too was a complication, not for Nick, but for Judy, since bunnies were not nocturnal by nature, so, staying up at night messed with her biologic clock, and demanded her to rely on coffee to stay awake to late, and she usually slept until late in the next morning.

Nick continued to eat that delicious blueberry pie, the best he ever ate, and he made a mental note to himself to know that guy when he had a chance and ask for the recipe.

"You know, you should not eat during service." Judy said to him, and Nick looked at her.

"Oh, come on, Carrots, you know that empty bags don't stand." He said, taking another fork of the delicious pie. "Besides, it is not like we will met another danger right in the next corner."

"The night just started Nick." She said, checking the clock that signaled that it was 21:10, their shift usually went to 3:00, and they still had a good while to go. "Besides, I must remember you that some of our cases had started into night patrols?"

"Yeah, but this time of the day most bad guys are sleeping." Nick said, trying to make a point in there, even though he and Judy both knew that he just wanted the chance to eat his pie in peace.

Nick looked at the window as he ate. They were in the middle of Savanna Central, the urban part of Zootopia, where all of the other districts met, and the start of there were still many mammals walking around the city, taking care of their own business into the city. Some of them going into dates, other returning home from work, and others going out to party with friends or do many other business that was of their lives. From bunnies to elephants, all kinds of mammals walked into the streets of the city, showing just how much Zootopia was bright and full of life, even during the night.

"Crime never rests, my dear fox partner." Judy said, and Nick rolled his eyes as he smiled, and he already knew what was coming now.

"Crime never sleeps nor tires, and it is always ready to show its ugly face in any situation." Judy said, and Nick chanted at the same time as her, as if it was some short of mantra that he already heard her saying many times in the past year. "So we must always be ready to fight crime whenever it appears, and keep the peace and the order in Zootopia, to ensure that the world will always be a better place." They both finished at the same time. Yeah, Nick had heard that a lot already.

"Carrots, you will never change." Nick said.

"That is a bad thing?"

"Not at all."

They both smiled to each other, and they continued to drive, and Judy stopped just as they reached a red signal, and she continued. "Well, it was true. We never know when something new and amazing will happen in our lives, and we must be ready to face anything that the world might throw at us."

As she spoke that, the radio started to make a strange buzz. Nick looked at it, and he tried to change the station, but the buzz continued.

"Huh? What is that?" Judy said, and Nick looked at her, before looking at the traffic signal, and he saw that it was now flicking every signal in it on and off. Red, yellow, red, green, green, yellow, green, two or three at the same time. It seemed as if it had broken.

Suddenly, the sirens of their car started to light and horn on its own, and the inner lights started to flick on and off, just like the signal.

"What is that!?" Nick said, in surprise, and soon, as he looked out, he realized that it was not happening only with their car. It seemed to be happening all around them.

In the streets, the light posts were flickering madly, and the lights of the establishments too were flicking madly, as if they all were facing sudden peaks of power, and the animals all into the streets were looking at them, as it seemed to be happening all at the same time. But it wasn't only with the objects connected to the power lines. The lights of cars were flickering as much as the other lights, and some of them seemed to have their honks and even their alarms activated on their own. In the pockets of mammals or in their paws, their electronic device seemed to be going completely crazy as if they had all had a malfunctioning suddenly.

All the animals looked at it, completely baffled at the force that was seemingly having a trouble all at once. "Nick, what is going on?" Judy said, as she saw what was going on around them, but Nick was unable to answer, as was any other mammal as the strange even was happening to all electric things and to everything that worked with battery.

It lasted for around thirty seconds, and then, suddenly, it went off.

It was like someone had suddenly flicked everything off at the same time. The lights went off, the cars died, and the carrot phones, tablets, MP4, and all of the other devices had suddenly turned off.

The streets were left completely dark, illuminated now only by the lights of the moon and stars. All the animals let out surprised exclamations, as they all looked around, trying to see something into that sudden darkness, and they all were trying to understand what had just happened.

It lasted for another fifteen seconds, and then, the lights all returned. The cars started up again, and all of the mobile electronics returned to work, as if nothing had happened.

All of the mammals into the streets were confused by what had happened, and they were looking at the lights, at the cars, at their mobile devices, all of them as if that would give them any clue of what happened. Some talked to themselves and exchanged glances, including Judy and Nick.

"What just-" Nick tried to say, but then-

_BAM_

Nick and Judy both let out surprised exclamations as something hit their car coming from above. They were action less for a few moments, before Nick looked to the window, and he saw a furred arm hanging from above their car. It took only a few more seconds to both him and Judy come out of their vehicle and look at what happened.

It was a big feline. A cougar and he had light-cream fur with black on the tip of his ears and tail. He was wearing long jeans pants and white colored t-shirt. He was laying in the roof of their car, and it was clear that he had fallen in there, for he had slightly crumbled the top and broke their siren-light.

"Oh my goodness!" Judy said, and she gave a jump and supported herself into the door of the car, and picked the wrist of the cougar to check on his pulse. It was still there, and it was somewhat accelerated, as if you would expect from someone who had just run a marathon.

"Nick, help me out!" Judy said, and soon, she and Nick were both pulling the bigger cat by the arm to off the vehicle. It was a bit hard, considering the difference of size and weight between them, but they managed to pull the unconscious feline to off their car and to lay him into the ground.

As they did, many mammals had stopped what they were doing and they looked at the two small mammals helping the cougar, who seemed to have dropped into their car, literally.

"Where did he came from?" Nick asked, looking up and trying to point out exactly where that cougar had fallen from. There were a few buildings around, and some of them had their windows open, maybe the cougar dropped from there as an accident, or maybe he was a jumper?

As Nick looked up, Judy was trying to talk to the cougar. "Sir? Sir? Are you listening to me? Sir?" She said as she gently shook the cougar, and after a few moments of not having success, the feline coughed, and took a few gasping breaths, startling her, Nick, and the curious animals who were gathering around to see that scene.

He opened his eyes slightly, but they seemed to be out of focus, and he seemed like he was not able to actually keep them open.

"Sir!" Judy said, holding him and she turned to her partner. "Nick, help!" Nick took a few moments, but he was able to run to her and hold the cougar's head, helping him to keep it raised, as the cat was trying to open his eyes, but he seemed too dizzy to do so.

"M-my friends…" The cougar said. "My friends… are they-ACK!" He was unable to finish, as if a sudden pain afflicted him. Judy continued to stay close to him, opening his eyes as she tried to see his pupils, but his eyes didn't wanted to remain open, and he seemed far too dizzy to give any real help.

"Someone call an ambulance!" Judy shouted, and the animals around all looked as the two cops helped the strange cougar.

"Sir, my name is Judy Hopps, I'm a police officer, please talk to me! Do you know where you are?" Judy asked, the cougar seemed to be trying to find her by her voice, but he seemed too dizzy to do so.

"I-I am… I was… in a building… with my friends…" He spoke, and he didn't seemed to be full aware of where he was.

"Carrots, I think he is more out than in." Nick said, and Judy looked at him, and she looked at the cougar, and made one last attempt. "Sir, what is your name?"

The cougar managed to open his eyes just slightly, letting her see the green of his eyes, as he managed only to say groggily before blanking out:

"Hunter… my name is… Alex Hunter…"


	2. Good Morning, Zootopia!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Nick and Judy try to find out just who is that strange cougar and wherre he could have possibly come from, Alex Hunter just woke up and finds himself into a very strange sittuation. Can he deal with this new world he is in and with his won new appearence, or will it be way to much fro him?

"Where did he fell from?" Judy asked, as she continued to look at all of the buildings around them, trying to pinpoint the place from which that mysterious cougar could have fallen from right into their car.

There was no glass around or in him, and so, it was to be suppose that he had fallen from an open window, and Judy could count a good amount of them. The gazelle paramedics that attended the feline before putting him into the ambulance said that he didn't had any major injuries and that none of his bones had break with the fall, though it seemed that he had a few bruises into him. Therefore, it was safe to assume that he had fallen from a not very high height, maybe form the first or second floor.

This reduced the number of possible places from which he could have fallen to around eight windows, and six of them were into an angle that it was right above their car. The cougar had to have fallen from one of these windows, now it was only left to know if he had jumped, if he had slipped from the window by accident, or if someone had pushed him.

"Well, wherever he fell from, he was lucky that it was not very high, otherwise he would be going to the dead house instead of the hospital." Nick said as he stood near Judy, and the bunny continued to look at the buildings, trying to make out from which angle the puma could have fallen to land right into their car, and this way, she could discover from which window he was when he fell.

"And I thought that all cats landed on their feet." Nick added, but Judy was barely hearing him.

"It has to have been from one of these windows." She said as she pointed at the open windows that were the closest from their car in the moment of the accident. "He must have been into one of these apartments in the moment that he fell, someone must have seen him or know him."

"Yeah, because anyone has to know a big cat that falls from the sky." Nick said, and Judy once more ignored him slightly. She continued to look up, and Nick looked at her, and he put a paw in front of his maw, and imitated the sound of a radio, "Here is Central calling out for Carrots. Officer Carrots, do you copy?"

Judy sighed, and she looked back at Nick. "Nick, we have what could be an accident, attempt of suicide or attempted murder, we need to take this a bit more serious."

"Hey, I am taking it serious." Nick said, "That was why I even took the liberty to pick up a photograph of our big friend." He said, showing to Judy his phone, which now showed a photo of the unconscious cougar, which surely had been taken before he was taken by the ambulance. "He is kind of photogenic."

"Oh, Nick! Yes!" Judy said, snatching the phone from his hands and watching the picture with exited eyes. "This is way better than just a description, now we can show his photo and give people his name and we can see who recognizes him." She said, and she remembered about hat the cougar said when they tried to talk to him.

"He said he was with his friends in the building, so maybe they had been together into one of the apartments. Maybe we can show the photo into the lobbies of each building and ask if they cougar was a resident or if he appeared to visit a friend for a reunion. Maybe one of his friends has witnessed what happened and they can shine a light the situation."

Okay, he had lost her again. It was like that each time that Carrots got too involved into a case and found out possible clues. She became too focused into the case that she nearly forgot about everything else besides the case and every possible lead that they could have. He was already used to it, and he had come to love that determined side of her. It was something that he had learned to admire into that little bunny. Even if sometimes it proved to be quite a challenge to keep up with her as she started to go deep into the case.

Just as Judy was about to lead them both into the inside of the building, their radios chimed, and Nick was the first to pick up. They heard Clawhauser's voice in the other end of the radio, saying, "Nick! Judy! There is another call for you into Downtown!"

"Clawhauser, can't it wait?" Judy said, and soon, Ben's voice came again into the radio saying.

"Guys, we are low in agents! We have been dispatching for the whole Zootopia since the lights flickered! The whole city went dark for a few moments, and many things happened when the lights went out! We have reports of accidents, property damage, wounded mammals, car crashes, fights due to the crashes, we are to our necks into people calling to complain and asking for help of the police! We need to send everyone!"

"Wait…" Nick said, pressing the speaker button of his radio, "That hour when the lights flicked, it happened in the whole town?"

"In the whole Zootopia." Ben confirmed, and Nick got himself to think.

That event with the lights happened in the whole city? With the cell phones and other equipment too? Now that was really curious, and as he looked at Judy he could see by the expression of her face that she thought it was curious too, but she soon dismissed it as she had a more important matter to worry about.

"But Ben, a cougar just fell into us, literally!" Judy said, "We were about to move with our car when he suddenly fell right into us, he damaged our car!" Judy said, and Nick looked at their vehicle.

It was indeed somewhat crushed. The roof had crumpled a little and there was the visible mark of where the cougar had landed into them. Their lights were a bit damaged, and they would most likely need to be replaced, not to mention the fixing into the metal of their roof. They were lucky it was a cougar and not a bigger feline, or a hippo, or a rhino, otherwise, the damage could have been far bigger.

"Oh my God! Are you two okay?" Clawhauser said, and Judy was quick to answer to him.

"Yes, we are fine, but the cougar was taken to the hospital, and we need to find ut exactly what happened for him to fall on us!"

Nick looked at Judy, and he said, "Carrots, I think we should go to see the rest of the city and leave this alone for now."

"What? Nick we can't!" Judy said, and Nick looked at her.

"Carrots, come on, the cougar is not that hurt and he didn't died. The paramedics said that his injuries were not that bad, just a mild concussion and a few bruises into his body, but he was fine. I don't see the need for us to go investigating it as if someone had tried to kill him."

"But what if they did?" Judy insisted to him, and she said, "If someone pushed him out by the window wanting to kill him, but failed? If they find out he is alive then they might try to escape, or maybe they even go after him to finish his job! Or if it was a suicide attempt, then the cougar could try again, and in this case, he would need immediate psychiatric evaluation! Not to mention that…"

"Pah, tah, tah!" Nick said, gesturing to her. "Carrots, you are getting into case frenzy mode again." He said to her with a gesture of his hands. Judy looked at him, as he looked back at her, and he said, "Look, Judy, I know that you are worried with the cougar, and that it could be a case, I know that very well, but we have other things to worry about now."

Judy looked at him, and he said to her. "Judy, we have no evidence that this was even a crime, and besides, it is late and we are not sure of what really happened. It could very well have been just an accident, he was walking in the apartment when the lights flickered and he slipped into something and fell of the window."

"But Nick-" Judy tried to say, but Nick was quick to silence her once more.

"Nah, nah! Judy, as you partner I say that we go on with our work, and we can even come back here in the morning, when people are already up and willing to tell us what happened, so we can find out more about our cougar and about what really happened to him. Sounds good to you?"

Judy looked at Nick once again, and she knew that there was no way that she could possibly win that kind of discussion. She knew that Nick was right, and she knew that by this hour of the night, anyone would not be very much willing to talk. Besides, if the things were really as bad as Clawhauser had said by the radio, then they would most likely have their ears pulled by chief Bogo if he heard that they had refused to answer a call only to make a stop for a particular investigation. She knew that Nick had once more won, and it was very clear by the growing smirk in his face.

God, she liked Nick more than any other friend she already had, but sometimes she hated that smile that he had when he proved his point.

Sighing, she activated her radio again, and she said "Clawhauser, you are still there?"

"Yep."

"Where is the place we are being dispatched now?" She asked, and Nick nodded as he smiled softly at her, and as they both received the address of their call and the situation that they would be facing, they both rushed back to their car and started the engine. Still, Judy was really focused into Nick's proposal of them investigating it better during the morning, and she was making sure to write down the exact avenue in which the even occurred, as well as any the possible windows from which he fell. She made a brief description of clothes that the jaguar was wearing in the moment he dropped into their car, and of course, she wrote down his name, the most important of all.

The name that he gave to her when he was almost losing his senses and the last thing that he said to her before blacking out.

To Judy, it was already settled. As soon as they had time tomorrow, they would try to find out just how was Alex Hunter.

* * *

Alex groaned. His senses were dull and he didn't knew where he was.

Had he died? Well, it wasn't as bad as it had seemed. He was calmer now, and that pain had went away. If that was die, than it definitely was not as bad as everyone always told to him. Now that the scare and the pain had passed, he felt a lot better now, calmer, except for that slightly throbbing of his head…

Wait.

If he was dead, his head shouldn't be throbbing… and he should not be breathing.

Groaning, Alex tried to open is eyes, only to be momentarily blinded by the strong light that was coming from some window. He was laying, and he was in a bed, he could tell it now. A very soft bed.

Alex groaned louder as he moved his hand to shield his eyes, and at the same time, he used it to fell his own head as the pain was proving to be quite a challenge for him to deal with. Still, it was nothing too big, he already dealt with far much worse things.

Slowly, his eyes started to get adjusted with the lighting of the place, and he was able to open his eyes and take a good look into where he was. He was into a hospital room. The walls were decorated with pastel shades, and there was a nearby window with white curtains that let the light and the breeze of the outside come in. Along with it, came the sounds of the outside, that told him that now he was into somewhere that had movement, as he could hear vehicles in the outside, as well as people's voices.

He blinked as the memories of the last night came back into his mind with the force of a train.

The building.

His friends and the planned attack.

Stoats.

Bastille, with Misty as a hostage.

Then the whole building shook, and they were all sucked out into what seemed to be a vortex. He and Linda both flew into the vortex before they were separated from each other. Then Alex flew into the vortex and there was that scorching, burning pain as his whole body seemed to be poured with melted iron. Only the memory of that pain made Alex shiver and recoil involuntarily. He was pretty sure that he was going to die into that moment.

However, as he was in there, into a hospital bed, alive and breathing, it seemed that he was wrong. Instead of dying, it seemed that he had instead be transported to somewhere else, or so it seemed. Alex wasn't really sure, actually, he was not sure of anything that had happened since last night.

As he started to have his mind clearer, the first thing he thought about were his friends. He wondered if they all had been caught by the strange vortex, just like him, and if they too had been transported to somewhere else like him.

If they did, then where? Were they okay? Were they even alive? Misty? Linda? All the others? Where would they be? And how Alex would find or even contact them now?

Alex was about to raise up, when a sharp and throbbing pain in his head made him stop and squirt his eyes. He felt on his head and he could feel a lump under beneath his short hair.

His hair… felt a bit shorter than he remembered, but Alex didn't had the mood or the time to think about it now. He was far more worried in find out other things, like where he was and how he was going to contact his friends.

Of course, that headache was proving to be a true pain, not to mention the blipping of that machine they had attached to him, the repetitive sound was really not making things any easier, and it was not helping to ease the throbbing feeling in his head emanating from that lump.

The sound also seemed to be a bit loud…

Suddenly, he heard a door opening, and someone walking in, with steps that clicked into the ground, almost as if they were hoofs. And a voice said:

"Well, looks like out patient here is walking up."

Alex groaned. Did the doctor needed to be so loud?

"Headache, huh? Well, it is no surprise, considering that you fell into a car last night.

Fell… in a car? Alex remembered only vaguely things from after the vortex. They were confuse, almost like a dream, but Alex was able to remember it. He had dropped hard into something, and that pain in his head and into a few parts of his body maybe were because of that. He remembered being pulled out and hearing voices, but not much more than that. That pain in his head was preventing him from thinking.

"Well, we had all your radios and they seem to be okay, you have no broken bones and only suffered a minor injury." The doctor said, continuing as Alex tried to get up, still squirting his eyes due to that pain. "Oh, go easy man, only because you got only minor injuries doesn't means that you don't need to go easy."

Alex panted a bit, and he was able to slowly put himself into sitting position. "Doctor, I was with friends… They are in here too?"

He was too focused on his pain to give the doctor a description of his friends, but he wondered if they had landed next to the –lace where he did, and if they could be in there too. The doctor soon said, "I'm afraid not, Mr. … Hunter, we had not much entries in here last night. But maybe they are, could you give us the species of your friends?"

"Well, one of them was…" Alex started, but them he realized that the doctor had said "species", and he opened his eyes to look at the doctor, to ask him what he meant by that. However, as soon as he put his eyes into the doctor, he blinked, as his vision was blurring, but he was pretty sure that there was something off.

"Doc… what kinds of drugs did you gave me when I was out?" Alex asked, and the Doctor looked back at him.

"Only some minor painkillers, for the wounds you suffered, but they might have worm out by now."

"There was something wrong with them." Alex said, as he massaged his eyes, "Maybe their validity expired or something… I can swear that I just saw horns in your head."

Alex was expecting the doctor to let out a surprised exclamation, or to agree with him that he was hallucinating, but instead, the doctor laughed a little, and he said: "Well, it is natural, after all, all male moose have horns, right?"

Alex did not understood what he meant. Was it some new kind of joke that medics did. Alex opened his eyes again, and his vision was much clearer now. He was able to look at the doctor real good this time, and now, he was totally loss of words as he simply stared at the strange being before him.

It stood in two legs like a human being, and it wore the clothing of a medic, but that thing was surely not a human. Starting with the large face, with a long maw ending into a bulbous snout, and with a face crowned by a big pair of horns. Two hands, each one with three fingers ending into blunt talon-like fingers that held the clipboard and pen into it. The creature looked back at him with hazelnut-colored eyes, and it seemed to be expecting to what he was going to say.

Alex was in shock with the strange being before him, but he was indeed more shocked with the fact that he was soon able to recognize what kind of creature it was, exactly.

"You… you are a moose…" Alex said, almost absently-minded, as he looked at the strange being with wide eyes and a neutral expression, which the doctor was finding to be hard to decipher, as he looked at him.

"Well, yes, I am a moose, I hope you don't have reservations about being attended by a prey species, but, if you would be more comfortable with it, I would not mind into calling out a predator to be your medic." He said that, he was clearly being professional and polite with him, and he was speaking as if Alex was supposed to understand what was being spoke to him.

Alex, however, could only stare at him with these wide eyes, and the doctor, after a few moments of that silence, cleared his throat and decided to continue. "Well, Mr. Hunter, maybe your friends are among the ones that arrived after what happened last night, but, we have to keep in mind that this is a hospital that is more specialized into taking care of big species. If their species are not as big as our regular schedule, or if their species require a specific kind of environment, then it is really possible that they have been sent to a more specialized hospital here in Savanna Central, or maybe some hospital into another precinct."

Alex said nothing, and only continued to stare at the strange being before him, as if it was simply the most natural thing in the world for a moose to be walking in two legs and wearing clothes and talking to him as if he was just another patient.

Alex continued to stare at him for a few moments, before raising his own hand and pinching his own arm hard.

"Ouch!" Alex said as he flinched, and he rubbed his arm as he continued to look straight at the moose in front of him.

He was still there, looking at him as if he was truly evaluating him.

The door opened again, and someone else came in.

Better saying, **something** else came in. This one was dressed like a nurse, and it too walked into two legs, but it was clear that it was not human. This animal was more slender than the doctor, and it didn't had a bulbous snout like him, but it had a long face ending into a slender maw, and it too had two long and slender horns coming out of the top of its head. The head was covered into light-brown fur and white into the area of the mouth and neck, and light-brown fur into the slender arms that ended into hands with three fingers that ended into these blunt talons. It was a gazelle, and Alex was not sure if he had seem many of them on TV, but he knew that it was a gazelle.

She was pushing a small trolley that had a few cups into them, as well as a teapot, and a salmon that smelled very good, and that was companied by a set of flatware.

She stopped as she looked at the doctor, and she asked, "So, how is our patient today?" She spoke that as if it was perfectly normal two animals standing like humans and wearing clothes simply talk to someone. Alex looked at both of them, and he pinched his arm again, but harder.

He almost wailed in pain, and he rubbed his arm to make the pain go away. He looked back at both animals, and they were both still there, and they were looking at him as if they were worried. Alex turned his face away from them, and he blinked madly, and he even slapped his own face.

"Mr. Hunter, are you okay?" The doctor asked, and Alex was able to come with an answer.

"I'm trying to wake up."

Alex had to be dreaming. That just could not be real. There was simply no way that he could be in a hospital with a pair of animals that were walking on two legs like humans, like these old children movies, and who were actually a doctor and a nurse, as if that was natural. This had to be some kind of twisted dream that he was having, and Alex was sure that he was going to wake up and soon he would forget everything about that dream.

But he was taking far too long to wake up.

He slapped his face again.

"Mr. Hunter…" The doctor tried to say, but Alex nearly jumped to out of the bed, saying something like "stay away from me" as he sprinted to the door, as if it was the way out of that strange dream.

However, as he crossed the door, it only seemed that the dream had got weirder.

Everywhere he looked, he could see all kinds of animals walking around in two legs and wearing clothes like humans would. Some were dressed as hospital staff, and some were dressed up as patients, and some and all of them were walking around as the regular schedule of the hospital, with the patients being taken care by the medics, and the nurses walking around to help the medics, and the medics themselves were moving to go tend to their own patients and schedule.

Alex looked around with wide eyes, almost in a daze as he saw all these animals around him, behaving just like humans. He saw a rhino with a patched leg, walking around with the help with walking sticks. He saw a lion in a wheelchair, being pushed by a leopardess nurse and they passed by him. He saw two nurses, a tiger and a bull chatting about some patient that he didn't truly heard, as the intercom of the hospital requested for some doctor Lahove into the radiology.

All around him, there were these animals, and no matter where Alex looked, he could not see a single human around.

What was that?

What kind of strange dream was that?

That was all that could pass by Alex mind as he looked around in a daze, almost like a zombie. He barely heard the moose doctor talking to him, until he felt that hooved hands touching his body.

"Mr. Hunter, I really think that you should go back into bed." The doctor said, as he helped Alex back into the room, and Alex allowed himself to be guided inside, as both the doctor and the gazelle nurse looked at him with worried expressions.

"You are not fully well yet, and you need to calm down." The doctor said as he closed the door.

"OUCH!"

"And you need to stop pinching yourself." The doctor added, and Alex answer was.

"I didn't pinched myself, you stepped on my tail…"

"Oh, sorry!" The doctor said, removing his hooved foot from the appendage. However, Alex barely heard his apologizes, as he immediately realized that he had said "my tail", and he now looked at it.

It was long and slender, and it had a soft blonde color, due to the fur covering it. It twitched lightly as a lot of conflicting thoughts filled Alex's mind.

"W-what…" He said, and he tried to catch it, but it moved away from him. "What?" Alex said, as he started to chase the tail slightly, walking in circles as he tried to get it, and he finally was able to grab it with both hands. He continued to look at it, and after a while, his gaze turned back at the doctor and nurse, who both looked at him with a very worried expression.

"I… I have a tail." Alex said, breathless and seeming to be in another half-daze, half-shock. The two animals shared a look as the nurse said. "Huh… yes?"

"I didn't had a tail before." Alex said, looking at them, "I wasn't supposed to have a tail. Why do I have a tail? Where did it came from?" Alex asked them, sounding more and more alarmed at each phrase he spoke. The doctor and nurse continued to look at him, and they truly seemed to be very much worried, before the moose spoke slowly.

"Well… I don't know you personally, so I can't say if you should or not have a tail. But I know that cougars normally have tails, and you are a cougar, so, it was to be expected for you to have a tail."

He was a… cougar?

"What?" Alex said without understanding, and he looked back at the tail, and he only them took a good look at his own hands, and he let go of his tail as his attention focused into them. His hands still looked like hands, but now, they were different. They were covered in fur, and instead of five fingers long and ending into nails, it seemed that now his hand had four fingers, somewhat chubby, and all of them ending into claws. The palm of his hands had pads, much like the ones of a cat, and Tyler stared at it.

"W-what?" He said, and he stepped back, and he looked back at his feet, seemingly noticing for the first time that he was shoeless. He was even more shocked to find out that his feet had changed too. They were now paws, and Alex grabbed one of them to look at the sole, and it too had pads, like the ones of a cat.

"What?" He said, breathless, and he looked around, and he saw a drawer next to the bed he had been laying, and he saw that there was a few objects over it, like a vase with a flower, a table lamp, and a mirror.

Without even thinking, Alex nearly pounced at the drawer and grabbed the mirror. With his shaking new hands, he raised the mirror until he could see his own face reflected in it. However, as he looked into the mirror, instead of the face of a human with short blonde hair, he could see the muzzle and face of a feline creature, staring back at him with wide eyes and with ears pressed into the back of the head.

Alex blinked at the figure, and he raised a hand to touch his own face. He touched himself and felt a long muzzle in his face, while the cougar into the mirror did the same movements he did. Alex passed his hand-paw over his muzzle, feeling it to be long and ending into a slightly humid snout, and he passed it by his muzzle, now opening his mouth. The cougar in the mirror did the same, showing off a set of big and sharp teeth as he did. Alex passed his claw into the inside of his gums and could feel big and sharp teeth, which he knew that humans normally weren't supposed to have, inside of his mouth. He passed his hand into the top of his head, feeling the fur, but now not feeling his hair, and he felt his ears, both on top of his head, just as the ones of cats were supposed to be. He touched them slightly, and they felt a little sensitive.

That creature was different from what he knew that should be into the mirror, looking back at him. It was most likely a face that he never saw or expected to see in his life. Still, that face was familiar to him. It was him. Alex knew it by the moment he looked into the same green eyes. Somehow, that cougar looking back at him in the mirror was no other than himself.

He continued to look at the mirror as he touched his own head, and the doctor and nurse continued to look at him as he did so. Alex had even forgotten that they were there. Then, he finally lowered the mirror and slumped to his knees; as he used both hands-paws to grab the drawer form which he had caught the mirror.

"I… I am a cougar." Alex said; seeming to be lost into yet another daze, as the two other animals looked at him.

Suddenly, Alex bashed his head into the drawer, again and again.

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!"

Alex wanted to wake up! He HAD to wake up! Because that had to be a dream. Otherwise, it would meant that he had completely cracked and lost his mind, and now was into a very deep hallucination from which he would never wake up.

However, the only thing he was succeeding to do was to cause himself a stronger headache.

The two animals were startled for a second, before they rushed to him. "Mr. Hunter!" The moose said, and Alex moved away from him as he shrunk into the bed.

"Why am I a cougar!?" He said to no one in particular. "How!? What in the world is this!?" He was frantic, and the doctor and the nurse only looked at him as he continued it, and then, it clicked into Alex's mind.

"The vortex!" He said, and the Doctor said:

"What?"

"That vortex!" Alex continued to say, "That vortex that sucked the whole building, it did this to me! Turned me into a cougar and sent me to this world! But… what was that vortex? What caused it? WHO caused it? And why they turned me into a cougar!?" Alex asked, and he was talking to the two animals who were eyeing him as if they could miraculously hold the answers that he wanted.

The moose doctor and gazelle nurse, however, only traded a very brief look among themselves, and looked back at the cougar, before the moose said. "Well… it is good to see that you are recovering, Mr. Hunter, I think we'll let you here in your room so you can rest." He said, and he and the nurse both started to retreat, and Alex noticed that neither of them was taking their eyes out of him. As if something could happen if they blinked. Alex took only one moment to recognize that look of fear and doubt that there was in their eyes and realize it.

They thought he was insane.

Alex had already received many looks like that in the past, as if he was a dangerous lunatic that would jump into people in the first moment that they gave their backs to him.

"Anyway, I have other patients to see, so I'll allow you to rest and recover." The doctor said, and soon, he and the nurse moved to out of the rom and closed the door. Soon after, Alex had heard the unmistakable sound of the door being locked.

So… there he was. Into some short of alien world, turned into something that he was not supposed to be, and now being considered mentally insane by the strange creatures that saved him.

The situation was complicated, maybe more than any other that the young man… or cougar… had ever been in his life. Alex looked at the door, and he looked at the room once more.

He looked back at the rolling trail that the nurse had brought, to the food that she had brought to him. He noticed that the flatware he saw earlier was gone. Of course, if they thought that he was crazy, then of course that they would not leave anything that could be used as a weapon near him. The nurse surely had picked them up very subtly as she and the doctor were leaving.

He continued to look at the room, and he focused into the back of it. He saw a set of clothing into a nearby chair, and he took only a second to realize that they were **his** clothes.

Alex looked at himself, and only them he realized that he was wearing patient clothing that the hospital gave to you when they needed to get you naked. Passing his hands… paws over himself, Alex felt that he was wearing only his underwear underneath it, and the back was open.

Alex would have become greatly flustered by this, if it wasn't for the whole situation that he was in the moment, and that was far more important than people seeing his undergarments.

Alex didn't knew what was going on. It could very well be some kind of trick, or insanity, or even some short of event that he would never even be able to only imagine that would happen to him. Still, Alex was sure that it had to do with that great vortex that sucked him, the others, and the whole building, that was something that he could deduce by all of the past experiences that he already had in his life.

Alex also knew that, being that real or a creation of his own mind, he would never get anywhere if he simply sat in there and waited like a sitting duck… or cat. Actually, he knew that he should not stay in there for long, because the moose, thinking he was clinically insane, surely went to call some other animals that would come there and would force him into a straightjacket and put him into a padded cell.

And that was an experience that Alex was not willing to go through again.

Alex knew what he needed to do: he needed to get out of that hospital, and fast.

* * *

"-cougar in his late twenties, wearing white shirt and jeans pants?" Judy asked, and the zebra at the door said:

"Sorry, I never seem him before, I wish I could help." And she closed the door, leaving Judy and her fox partner at the door. She was the last one of the apartments.

It was the morning following the incident of the cougar and, as Nick had promised, he and Judy had went to the apartments to see if anyone knew something about that mysterious cougar and how did he dropped into their car.

However, they were having little to no luck. The two animals passed at the reception, but the got who was taking care of it insisted that he had never seem the cougar in his life, he was not a tenant and he had never came to visit or even to make a delivery, and the goat claimed to be very good with faces.

Anyway, they tried to see the apartments one by one, to see if anyone could recognize the cougar, but they were once more unlucky, since no one seemed to had ever seem the cougar before. They could even get a view into some of the apartments, and none of them showed any sighs that there had been a fight in there, or anything that could suggest that someone threw a cougar by the window.

The two cops had just talked with the last tenant of the last possible apartment, and they received the same answer, now it seemed that they were out of clues. "Well, can't say it was totally unexpected." Nick said.

"I told you we should have did it last night." Judy said as they both walked to the stairs. "Now the lead has got cold."

"Come on, Carrots, it was not a murderer." Nick said, "The cougar is still in Savanna Central Hospital, breathing and everything."

As he said that, Judy stopped for a moment, as if she suddenly remember it. "Yes! He is in the hospital! We can go talk straight to him and ask what happened!"

Nick immediately cursed his own mouth, and he said, "Hey, hey, Carrots, the guy fell into our car last night, don't you think he might want to rest a bit after that?"

"We are just going to check on him." Judy said, and she added, "We can just go talk to the doctors and ask if he is okay to receive visitations, anyway, if he is not, then we can leave him be for a while. Of course, if he knows something and if he wants to talk to us, then maybe we could listen to him and shine a light upon all of this situation." She said with a smirk that Nick knew far too well, for he had seem it many times already.

Nick looked at her, evaluating her, before he gave his own smirk. "Sly bunny." He said, and he sighed, "Well, I guess this dumb fox will just have to go along with you in your dance."

She smiled, knowing that she had made yet another score.

Soon, they were back into their car, and driving in direction to Savanna Central Hospital. It was one of the hospitals of that area of Zootopia, and it was specialized into attending to all cases involving medium sized mammals, like that cougar. There were several hospitals in each precinct of Zootopia, and each one was specialized to certain cases of mammals. Smaller species were directed to other places, and species that were sensitive to the environment and needed a specific kind of environment to survive were redirected to hospitals in other districts.

Luckily for them, cougars could live comfortably into the area of Savanna Central, enough for them to not needing to be redirected to other hospitals to further care. They knew that their cougar was in there, and they knew that, by now, he would probably already be up.

They entered into the hospital and they saw a lot of mammals in there, in several different degrees of need for care. Some were only sniffing with a flu or something of the like, while others were with a few broken bones or exposed wounds. They all waited in line for the care that they all would receive, and as they passed, the cops looked straight at the receptionist desk, and they saw a moose doctor talking with the receptionist.

"-we need to find him as soon as possible, his case is very delicate." The doctor said, and the officers stood behind him. They traded a look, before Nick cleared his throat.

The doctor almost gave a jump as he looked back, looking to the sides as he searched for the source of the sound, before he looked down and saw the two small mammals in officers' clothing, and he almost seemed relieved. "Oh, thank goodness, I was just about to call the police."

The two officers exchanged looks, and Judy said, "Ahem, officers Hopps and Wilde, ZPD. We came here to check on a cougar that arrived in last night. Alex Hunter."

"You know him?"

"He dropped on our car, literally." Nick said, and Judy completed, "We were with him when the paramedics arrived."

"Oh, yes, of course." The doctor said, "It is exactly aobut him that I wanted to talk about."

The two shared another look, and they turned back to the doctor, as Judy asked, "What? Something happened to him?"

The Doctor seemed about to start talking again, but he stopped and looked to the other patients waiting in the room. "Follow me." He said, and he guided them away from the waiting room, and into a desert hallway. As soon as they were out of the hearing of others, the doctor turned back to them.

"Sorry for that, but we need to keep this quiet for a while, we don't want to cause alarm."

"Why? What happened?" Judy asked, growing concerned with the situation "Is the cougar okay?"

The doctor took a deep breath, and he said, "He woke up around one hour ago. We had examined him and he didn't showed any visible symptoms of signs of problem, so we supposed that he would be fine. But, when he woke up, he seemed… confuse."

"Confuse… how, exactly?" Nick asked, and the Doctor continued to explain.

"For a while, he just stared at us, and he kept pinching himself and slapping his own face, as if he seemed to believe that he was dreaming. He tried to escape the room and next he was acting as if he was astonished."

The two officers heard it carefully as the doctor explained to them. "He seemed to have been scared at his own tail, and when we told him he was a cougar, he acted as if he didn't even knew that. Then he started to bang his head into the drawer and he seemed to be scared of us again. Then he kept repeating that he was not supposed to be a cougar. He started speaking about a vortex of light that sucked him and a whole building, and he claimed that it had turned him into a cougar."

The two mammals remained in silence for a long time after they heard what the doctor had to say, and then, Nick said, "Wow… or our cougar hit his head harder than we thought, or he needs another kind of doctor."

"I was worried with his behavior, as you can imagine.", the doctor continued "So I left him locked into the room while I went to talk to a friend into the psychiatry wing, and we brought a few residents to transfer him there, for safety measure, of course. But… when we arrived in the room he was… gone."

"What?" Judy and Nick said at the same time. The doctor sighed, and he continued explaining.

"We don't know how he managed to get out. He might have escaped by the window, but his room was on the third floor!" The doctor said, still being visibly shaken by the seemingly mental impaired cougar having escaped.

"Maybe he did, didn't they say that cougars are great climbers?" Nick asked, but Judy seemed not to have heard him, and she asked the doctor.

"You think he is still in the hospital?"

The doctor shook his head "We search in all of the wings, no one has seen him around and there is no sign of him around the place."

Judy nodded, and she saw that the doctor was still nervous, and she knew that he had his reasons, as well as for wanting to keep it as subtle as possible. If the patients suspected that there was an insane predator roaming by the hospital they could panic. The same way, if people heard that there was insane predator roaming free around the city, they could get just as scared.

Even with all the years of peaceful living and with the acceptance, the fear of predators was still something that seemed to be deep into the minds of all of the animals. The idea of an insane mammal roaming around, that could possibly represent a danger to other as much as to itself, was the kind of thing that made any mammal feel uneasy.

"Have you checked the security footage?" Judy asked, and the doctor said:

"We were about to do so, as soon as we called the police. We have our own security, and we gave them a description of the cougar, if they see him their orders are to not attack unless he poses a threat."

"Well done, we need to search for him too." Judy said, and Nick agreed with her. A lunatic walking around the city was a serious matter, and their job, in that case, was to find him and to bring him back so the medics can take care of him.

"Yeah, but it was an hour ago? He can have went to another part of the city by now." Nick pointed out, and Judy said, "Maybe Clawhauser can help us track him. I'm gonna call him."

Judy said and she activated her radio, and as she did talked to Ben, asking for help of the cheetah, Nick continued to speak to the doctor. "So, he was really saying that someone had turned him into a cheetah?"

"I found it strange too." The moose said, "It might be mental confusion caused by the fall or an impact in his head, or maybe something in his bloodstream. We requested some tests for drugs, is a routine in here. We might have the results in a few hours from now." The doctor seemed to be genuinely worried with the cougar, as it was the job of any medic to be worried with the safety and wellbeing of someone, especially if they were mentally unstable.

"The poor lad seemed so confused." The doctor said, "I don't know what is going through his head, but I'm pretty sure that he might not be very comfortable walking in this city alone. He probably will be lost and scared."

"Yeah, because crazy people always get scared when they are in the middle of many mammals." Nick said as a joke, and he added right after, with more seriousness. "And that is when they get to be more dangerous."

* * *

The moose doctor was somewhat right.

Alex was indeed lost as he walked into the streets of that city, but he was far to controlled to be scared. Instead, he was oddly fascinated and on the verge of freaking out at the same time.

He had managed to sneak out from the hospital by sneaking into the window and over the edge of the building, and he managed to find his own way to reach the ground. Alex was very happy that he was able to do so, and that he was able to reach the ground safely after being stuck into that tall place. Strangely, Alex didn't felt as much insecure by the height of the place as he supposed that he should be, and climbing and balancing had been surprisingly easy for him, more than regular, actually. Anyways, now he was walking for a little more than an hour now, and he was able to see that this place was surely a big city. There was definitely no doubt about it. Still, the place was different from anything that Alex had ever seen, for instead of humans, it was filled with these anthropomorphic animals. All of them walking around and doing their daily chores much like humans would do. Some of them were wearing uniforms, and others were dressed more casually, with clothes that someone would wear to go for a walk or to go to the drugstore.

He saw all kinds of animals, from small mouse and gerbils to big elephants and tall giraffes. He also saw many other animals, like zebra, lions, tigers, stags, rhinos, hippos, gazelles, bulls, bears, wolves, he even saw one or two pandas passing by. The ways the animals moved around also caught his interest, as he could see some hippos coming out of a miniature river and dry out into a blower of hot air, and some gerbils moving around into something that seemed like tunnels from the labyrinth of a hamster. However, no matter how much he searched, or how much he forced his sight to see, for more than an hour looking in the middle of that strange, animal-dominated city, Alex was unable to see a single human face as he walked, and neither anything that remembered a human, like a gorilla or a gibbon.

At some moment, Alex even stopped someone at the street, a zebra, and asked him if there was any humans in that city.

The zebra's answer was: "Hu-mans? Is that a new brand of fertilizer? You should search into the gardening stores."

That answer was more than enough for Alex to convince himself that humans seemingly didn't existed into that world he was in. So, he returned into walking into the city, without having sure of where he would go, as many doubts floated into his mind.

How did he ended up in there? Why he had turned into a cougar? What kind of strange world was that? What was that mysterious vortex that had enveloped him completely?

And what about the others? Did they had been transported to that strange world again? They had also be turned into the kinds of animals that inhabited that world? Were they as lost and confused as he was, if they were even alive?

If so, then how would Alex find them? How would he even recognize them if he found them? If this was a whole world, then how could he find them in anywhere? He didn't even knew where he was…

Stopping in his tracks, he looked around, and he sighted an animal that didn't looked as threatening. It was a wolf, but for some reason, Alex didn't thought him to be so dangerous. Approaching him, he asked.

"Excuse me?"

The wolf turned to him, and then Alex said, "Do you live around the place?"

"Since I was a pup." The wolf said, with some kind of pride, and he said, "Yeah right, look, I'm kind of lost..."

"Oh, a newly arrived?" The wolf said, and Alex nodded, the wolf then laughed, as if it was some kind of joke. "Man, you are going to love in here! You should see our beaches, they are the best for surfing."

So, they were near the ocean…

"And later you can sky on the snowy fields."

Snowy fields? Wait, they were near snow? The climate felt warm…

The wolf, as if perceiving his confusion, laughed more, and he said, "Man, you really don't know the city, do you?" Alex looked back at him, and shook his head slowly.

"Yeah, I supposed, well, this city has four major precincts: Tundratown; Sahara Square; Rainforest District; and Savanna Central, just where we are now. Each precinct has its own climate, specific for the kinds of mammal that live in there, so they can be comfortable. After all, a polar bear would fry in here, while a camel would be cold, don't you agree?" The wolf was speaking as if it was the most perfectly natural thing in the world. Alex only looked at him for a few moments, before he was able to form words again, and he said:

"So, are you telling me that this city has a desert, a tundra, and a whole forest in it, along with the urban area we are in?"

The wolf laughed at him, and he said, "Welcome to Zootopia." He said, turning around and letting out a small howl as he went his own way, leaving behind a slightly stunned Alex Hunter, who stared at him, before turning back to the world that surrounded him.

"Zootopia…" Alex said, letting the name mull over his tongue and into his own mind. He continued to look around, with all the animals walking to do their daily activities, and Alex, with his new cat-like appearance, was just another face into the crowd.

Putting his paws into his pockets, and looking at the path ahead, Alex continued to walk.

_A new world, with no humans and ruled by intelligent animals who talk and walk around like people._ Alex thought as his eyes still travelled to all sides, not fixating in the face of any animal for too long.

__Alex Hunter, you are definitely not in Kansas anymore._ _


	3. Eating Bugs and Defying the Law

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Alex tries to find his path and figure out where to go next into the streets of Zootopia, he feels hunger and decides to try something that, while being perfectly normal and expected into Zootopia, would make many humans frown upon looking at it. While this, Nick and Judy are still looking for him, determined to find him. Will they be able to find this cougar? And if they do, what will happen next? How will Alex react to his first ˜official˜ meeting with the two furry officers?

Alex wasn't sure about for how long he kept walking. It was probably midday already, but Alex had no way to tell, for he had no watch. Besides, the human who got turned into a cougar wasn't sure about how exactly time behaved into that strange world. For all he knew, the days could last only six hours. At the given moment, Alex wasn't sure of very much anything.

Alex continued to walk, trying not to call much attention to himself as he walked among the many kinds of animals that walked into that place. He didn't knew what to do next, and neither were to go, mostly because he didn't knew that city and he wasn't sure that he would be able to find his way even if he tried or if he had a map.

Alex groaned as his stomach rumbled, making the cougar put his paw over it.

It seemed that even the thing of being transported to another world and being turned into an animal had not diminished his hunger. After all, animals needed to eat to survive, and the consequences of hunger were well known by all living things, including Alex, human or cougar, he still needed food.

Alex remembered the trail with that delicious-smelling fish that the gazelle nurse had brought to his room while he was at the hospital. How he regretted not having eat at least a piece of it before he left the hospital in order to don't be locked into a cushioned room. Alex was so hungry now that he could very well eat a horse.

Ironically, as he thought about it, two horses just crossed his way, but of course that Alex was not going to jump at them in the middle of the street and devour them. Actually, the thought of devouring something that was so much human-like, and that had feelings and thoughts like him, actually made Alex feel sick, almost as if it was cannibalism.

Still, that didn't changed the fact that his stomach was aching. Alex barely remembered when was the last time that he had eaten something. He needed to find food for his stomach, and he needed to do it soon.

"Excuse me, sir." He said, stopping a rhino that was crossing the street, the rhino looked at him and let him approach, and Alex asked: "Sorry, I'm new in town and I don't know that place very well. Do you know a place where I can get some food?"

"There is a Bug-Burga in the next block." The rhino said, before continuing his way.

Bug-Burga… the name was kind of strange, but Alex simply shrugged, and he continued his way. If it was a place where he could get some food to satiate his hunger, then he didn't minded the name at all.

Alex walked in the direction the rhino pointed, he almost ran, as his hunger was making it hard for him to stand it, until he was able to see the place. It was a big place with green and orange in the decoration, with a big sign in the front with the words "BUG-BURGA" in green between two lines of orange, making it seem like a stylized hamburger.

Alex only needed to look at the style of the place and at the animals coming out with food boxes in their paws to realize that the place was a fast food. Alex knew that he should not eat junk food right in the morning, but with the hunger he was, he was barely even minding, as long as he was stuffing his stomach with something.

Alex hurried inside, and in there he was received with the smell of something being fried. Alex didn't knew what it was, but it smelled delicious, and made his mouth water and his stomach grumble louder, wanting nourishment.

Alex sighed, and he entered into the line. He waited for around ten minutes before he was attended. The attender was an antelope, wearing an orange and green uniform, with a small name tag in his chest reading "Larry". The antelope looked at him and he said, "Welcome to Bug-Burga, the number one fast food industry for predators of Zootopia, what is your request?"

He spoke it rather mechanically and with a bored expression, as if he had said that around two hundred times only during the morning. Alex knew that working into a fast food was not exactly a glamorous job, but the antelope seemed not to like it very much, and he only continued to look at Alex expectantly with a bored expression, which made the cougar a bit uneasy.

"Uhhh, what do you have for today?" Alex asked, and the Antelope simply pointed up behind him, at the menu that was written into the walls. "Oh, right!" He said, and he looked at the menu, seeing one item after the other, and as he read, he took a surprise.

"Cricked chips… cicada burgers… grasshopper shakes?" Alex looked at one item after the other, and almost all of them seemed to be insect-based. Maybe it was a joke? Maybe the place was some of these fast foods with humor.

However, Alex looked into the attender of the side, and saw a wolf picking up a trail that had a cup in it filled with Alex could immediately recognize as bugs, and they seemed that were fried. Alex then realized that the items in the menu were actually made of bugs, and that was somehow of a startle to him.

But, on second thoughts, he should kind of expect it from a place with a name like "Bug-Burga". He had first took the name as some kind of joke, but it seemed that it was as serious as it could.

"Are you going to order?" The antelope asked, and Alex only then remembered that he was into a line, and that were other people behind him waiting for their turn to order.

What would he do now? Would he order it? Would he actually eat bugs?

As his stomach grumbled once more, Alex was deciding that, in Rome, you must do as the romans. If all the animals were eating it, then it could not be that bad, and the pain in his stomach and the smell that was coming from what they were frying in there, be it bugs or not, was making him decide that it was not the moment to be picky with his food. Besides, for some reason, the idea of eating bugs was not as repulsing as Alex imagined that it should normally be. Could it be because of his transformation?

"I… I will want the standard Bug Snack." Alex said; pointing to a package that was composed of one cicada burger, a canine-size bowl of cricket chips and a canine-size cup of grasshopper shake.

"One standard Bug Snack!" The antelope said, and the people behind him were already working into what the cougar had ordered, and he turned back to him and said, "28 zoolars and 45 cents."

Alex took another startle as he heard the word "zoolars". Alex mentally kicked himself for forgetting about money, and for not predicting that a place like that would have their own currency, and that it would be very different from the "dollars" he was used with. Darn! What would he do now?

The antelope continued to look at him, and he repeated, "28 zoolars and 45 cents."

Alex looked at him, and he said, "W-well, sir, look…" He said, picking up from his pocket. "All I have is…" But his voice trailed when he looked at the money.

When Alex was sucked into the vortex, the only money he had were sixty dollars in his pocket in notes of twenty. However, as he looked at the money he had, and they were still sixty in three notes of twenty, but the money was not what he remembered. Instead of the image of one president, it had the image of the head of a stag, staring back at him. These were not dollars.

As Alex stared dumbfolded at the money that he had, the antelope decided to serve himself. He reached out and picked out two notes of twenty, and after a while, he put in Alex's paws a few coins of his change. "Wait for your order to be ready and pick your trail on the side."

Alex barely heard him, but he nodded anyway, and he move to the next balcony to pick up his order as soon as it was ready. He then walked to one of the table inside the establishment and sat down with his trail, and just remained in there for a moment.

One thing was his whole body changing. However, his own money changing from dollar into the currency of that world was something that really felt off. Suddenly, something clicked into Alex's mind, and he reached into his other pocket, and he pulled out a folded photograph.

Hesitating, he slowly unfolded it, and looked at the picture. It was a picture of him when he was younger, around eighteen years ago, with his mother and his brother. They were still there, but they were all cougars. Alex could see the one that was the younger version of himself, as well as his brother, and his mother, smiling like she always did. However, the ones that were previously humans into the picture had all been turned into cougars. The strange was that, even with them having their faces and appearances transformed completely, Alex was still somehow able to recognize instantly all of their appearances, as if they had always looked like that.

Alex wasn't sure of what disturbed him more. The fact that the faces in the picture had been changed, and that his mother and brother had been turned into cougars, or the fact that, even in their new forms, he could still recognize them as he always did. It made him reflect that the vortex had not only change him, but all of his possessions. As it had did with his money and with the photo, and it occurred to Alex that it did the same with his clothing. When he was getting dressed, Alex noticed that his pants and underwear now had holes in them, by which he could perfectly fit his new tail, but he had dismissed it as his tail having bored these holes in the clothes when it grew. However, now it seemed that the vortex had transformed his clothes too, with the exception of his shoes, that had completely vanished. However, Alex noticed that most animals in the city walked barefoot, so he decided that it wouldn't hurt to walk barefoot too… or would it be… barepaw?

Alex became so lost in his thoughts that he barely even remembered his food or his hunger, until his stomach insisted in remembering him about it.

Looking at the trail of food, Alex folded the photo again and put it back in his pocket, along with the miraculously transformed money that he had now, and he focused on the food. He opened the box and pulled out the burger that he had ordered. Alex knew that it was made from cicada, which was a bug, but still, instead of feeling nauseated by this, Alex felt his mouth watering even more.

Without really caring if it was insect, he opened his maws wide and gave it a bite, chewing on it and letting the flavor fill his mouth and his taste buds. It was surprisingly good. Alex kind of like the taste, even knowing that it was bug. He continued to eat the cicada burger, giving an occasional gulp into the grasshopper shake, which too was very good, and Alex was discovering that he liked that food.

Soon the burger was gone, and Alex sighed, as he looked at the "canid-size" bowl of cricket chips. Slowly, Alex picked up a single one of them, and he put in his mouth before chewing. It was crispy, salty, and it was simply delicious. Soon Alex was goggling hungrily into the, which caught the eye of some of the other patrons, but Alex barely minded. That thing was just too good!

Once Alex finally finished his meal, he sighed as he laid back into the chair, patting his belly. That meal was truly delicious. Alex never imagined that one day he would eat a meal that was composed of bug-derivate products and that he was actually going to like it. However, he actually liked it very much. He sighed as he looked around, to the other animals that were buying their food and eating it.

He saw lions, wolves, tigers, leopards, bears… For the first time, Alex noticed that almost all of the animals in there were the generally considered predator species. He remembered what the attender had said, about Bug-Burga being the number one place in Zootopia for predator alimentation. Well, if animals lived together in harmony, it would made sense that predators would restrain themselves from eating other animals, for it would not be acceptable into their society, so they ate insects and fish. It actually made a lot of sense in Alex's mind.

Alex remembered to himself that he was a cougar, a predator species, so it was supposed to be natural for him to find insects succulent, once they were his source of protein. Still, the whole concept of him being turned into an anthropomorphic animal was still some of a difficult thing for Alex to process.

Well, the problem of the hunger was solved, and now, he could leave and go to his other business. As Alex was leaving the place, he passed by a store that sold off maps, and they were selling a map of the city for 15 zoolars. Alex thought about buying it, but them, he realized that he had very little money on himself. And as if that was not enough problem, Alex realized that he would have other problems due to the lack of money.

With low cash on himself, he would have to sleep in the streets and he would have no food for him. The idea of living like a beggar was something that disturbed Alex, and he was not willing to pass by this. Still, he had little choices, as jobs would take a while to pay him, and he could not afford making debts in this strange city, once he didn't knew how debts were solved around there. There was also the immediate need for money, once his needs would not wait until his next paycheck from a job that he wasn't even sure that he was going to be able to get, once he didn't had references, professional resume, or any kind of object in his possession to even leave as a guaranty. He once more felt like a fool for leaving most of his belongings behind when he went to that mission with his friends, they told him that he might need a few things, but Alex was sure that he would not. He should have listened to his friends.

Well, what was done was done, and now, Alex needed to worry about how to get money to get by, and the solution that formed in his head was quick and sure. It was something that Alex didn't wanted, but seeing his current situation, he assumed that he had little choice, once he was not willing to spent the nights in the streets or to go hungry. Not to mention that Alex really needed money to help him start the search for his friends and for a way to truly understand all that was going on.

Sighing, Alex saw that he didn't really had a choice.

He looked up, and scanned among the animals that were passing by the street, and he sighted one, a hippo. Alex walked straight into him, and they bumped.

"Hey!"

"Sorry!" Alex quick said as both of them kept moving, the hippo keeping an eye on him as he continued to move. Alex looked over his shoulder, and he looked at the wallet that he had taken from the pocked of that hippo when they bumped. He opened it and he saw a picture of a little hippo dressed as a ballerina. It was a girl, and she should be around eight or nine. Alex wasn't sure how he knew that, but he knew.

Sighing, Alex checked the wallet, there should be around one hundred zoolars in there, but Alex only picked up ten. Closing the wallet again, he turned around, and saw that the hippo was still in his line of sight.

"Sir!" Alex called out as he ran after the hippo. Soon, the hippo was looking at him, and Alex was close, and he said, "You dropped your wallet."

The hippo looked surprised at him, and he checked on his own pocket, only to find out it was empty. He picked the wallet from the cougar's paws, and he checked on it, once he saw the photo of his daughter in her ballet outfit in there, he knew that the wallet was his.

"I think it dropped when we bumped." Alex said as innocently as he could, and it worked, the hippo thanked him and he continued to go his way.

Alex watched him walk away, and let out a sigh as he turned around, checking out the ten zoolars that he had just picked from the wallet of that hippo, and he put them on his own pocket, turning his attention back to the streets once again. He took only a few minutes of walking before he sighted his next target. It was a kangaroo, and he came half-walking, half-hopping.

Anyway, Alex was able to get a good look at his pants to know the pocket that had the lump of the wallet. Once again, he bumped into the target, saying a quick, "I'm sorry", while he kept his eyes on the kangaroo's eyes, to see if he didn't noticed anything.

Alex opened the wallet, and he found in there the driver license, and a photo of a female kangaroo with the head of a young kangaroo sticking to out of her purse. When Alex searched for money into the wallet, he only found 15 zoolars. Alex closed the wallet again, with all of the money still inside of it, and he ran after the kangaroo.

"Sir!" He said, and the kangaroo stopped to look at him, as Alex looked at him, and he offered the wallet, "You dropped this when we bumped." He said, and the kangaroo looked at it, and he took it and looked inside, and he checked his own pocket.

"Oh, yes, it is mine! Thank you." He said, and he went his own way, and Alex looked at him leaving, before turning around and going back to walking, waiting for a few minutes and maybe a turn into the next avenue for his next target.

* * *

"There must be a way to find him." Judy said as she looked at the sides as she drove the car. They were in that for almost one and a half hour as they were searching into the city, as if there was going to miraculously appear a clue of the runaway cougar into the next corner. Nick was in that for a bit with her, and he was getting somehow tired of it.

"Carrots, if chief Bogo finds out that we have stopped our patrol to search for a crazy cougar, he will be ripping off our ears." Nick said, and Judy was fast to think of an answer.

"We are not stopped our patrol, we are still doing it, and while we do it, we are searching for the clues of that cougar. Besides, he might pose a potential threat to people, so we are making our job by searching for him and making sure that he does not end up hurting himself or someone else."

Nick rolled his eyes, as Judy seemed to have a prepared answer for nearly anything that Nick could say to her. Still, thatg didn't changed the fact that they were doing it for around one hour and a half without any stop, and Nick was starting to feel the growing need to take a whizz.

"Judy, can we at least make a stop?" He asked, and she said:

"We have to find that cougar. For what we know, he could be stalking someone or doing some short of crime. We need to find him and nothing will make us stop." Just as Judy spoke that, however, Nick's ears could catch a grumbling sound, and he looked at Judy, who remained silent as she blushed furiously.

"Carrots, did you eat this morning, I mean, before you nearly broke into my house to drag me to that building to search for clues about that cougar?" Nick asked, and Judy said nothing at first. She was very thrilled to go to the buildings and to ask the animals about the cougar, to find out the more she could about him as soon as possible. In her rush, she had simply got up her bed, put on her uniform, and rushed to Nick's house, arriving right after Nick finished his breakfast.

She waited impatiently for him to finish getting dressed and then they both were rushing to the buildings, the rest is history.

The fact was that, in the rush to get at the bottom of that case, Judy ended up forgetting both her breakfast and her lunch, and she was now nearly starving as her stomach hurt. She groaned, and she nodded, feeling bad for letting Nick know that he had actually made a point on her, and she didn't looked at him, for she knew that she would see that same sly smile in his face if she did. In fact, Nick had very much that smile now.

"So, I guess we could use a break for a lunch, right?" He asked, and he said, "I just happen to know a good place in here to get some grub, we can even eat in the car if you want. You just have to let me get off to go in there before my bladder explodes, okay?" He said as if he was negotiating with someone, and Judy said:

"Okay, but make it quick, we need to keep searching and we can't let the patrols." Judy spoke that still without looking at Nick, and the fox simply chuckled, as he knew that he had made a point now.

Soon, they were driving in direction to the Donut Safari, one of the best donuts in all of Zootopia, and the best in that area of Savanna Central. It was one of the favorite places from all of the officers from the ZPD, and it was almost an obligatory stop during their days at the patrolling.

"I'll be back in a few." Nick said as he stepped out of the car, and Judy was quick to tell him.

"If you take more than twenty minutes I'll go in there after you!"

Nick chuckled, knowing that she would most likely do so if he really took too long. Still, Nick was taking it all as a joke, and he simply smiled at her as he walked into the establishment. After a quick visit to their restrooms, Nick was empty and he was in his way to the counter, and he picked up two boxes of donuts. One for him and Judy, and the other for their dear friend Clawhauser, who was just the biggest fan ever of the Donut Safari and they delicious donuts.

Soon Nick had the box in his arms and was carrying them to the outside of the place, as he looked at the animals passing by. As he looked, he saw something that made him take a double look to be sure that he wasn't confused.

There was him, walking with his paws in the pockets of his pants. Alex Hunter. The same cougar that had fallen in their car last night and that they had been searching for the last hour and half, walking into the streets just in the place Nick and Judy decided to make a stop and take a break from searching. And he even wearing the same clothes from last night!

Wow, talk about coincidences.

Nick looked at him as the cougar walked into the street, soon he bumped into a rhino, who said something to him about "being careful" and the cougar seemingly apologized to him, and they both followed their own way. As they walked away from each other, however, Nick noticed that there was something into the paws of the cougar that wasn't in there before, and it was a wallet, and it looked pretty big to be his'.

Nick looked very intently as the cougar opened the wallet, removed some money for it and put in his own pocket, before putting the rest of the money back and closing it once more. The cougar turned around and Nick heard him call out "Sir!" The next thing the cougar did was to run in direction to the rhino, who had turned around to look at him, and he offered the wallet to him.

The rhino looked at it with wide eyes and checked on his own pocket, before he picked the wallet and looked inside. He grumbled something at the cougar while he put the wallet in his pocket, and the cougar looked at him for a few moments, before he turned around and continued to walk, with his paws in his pockets.

Nick looked to him, having realized immediately what had happened.

"Sneaky cat." Nick said with a lightly smirk, as he recognized the simplicity and yet high intelligence behind that trick the cat was using. Nick looked back at the parking lot, where Judy was waiting for him to return. After a few moments, he decided that it would not hurt to go talk with that cougar, just to see if he really was as crazy as he had seemed when the doctor had described. By what he was doing, it was possible that he was not as bad, still, Nick checked at his holster, and when he felt the handle of his dart gun in there, he felt more confident.

So, Nick started to follow the cougar…

* * *

Alex stopped after a corner, and he looked to the sides, to be sure that no one had saw or followed him, and he took of the money from his pocket. By now, he had a great bundle of that money of that world, zoolars.

Alex made a count of it, and he counted around 500 zoolars. It was a good amount, maybe enough to buy him cheap meals and maybe even a stay into the cheapest building he could find. It was a big city, surely it had some place that was cheap and that would not ask many questions to him, and maybe they could even be discrete about him if he gave them a good incentive.

"Wow! That is a good deal of money."

The sudden voice made Alex jump back and look to the sides, but he didn't saw the source of that voice. He continued to look to the sides, when the voice came again.

"Down here."

Alex turned his attention to below, and once he did, he saw a small animal looking up at him. It was carrying two boxes in its arms, and above them, he could see a canine-like head, with red fur and with two ears on top. The green eyes looked at him as the small animal had a sly smirk in his face. The cougar was also able to see a busy tail behind the creature.

Alex took a moment to recognize the animal as a fox. Once he saw him, he said, "Yeah, it is a lot of money."

The fox nodded, and he said, "Any chance of some of that money have come from the wallet of a rhinoceros?" The fox asked it more matter-of-factly than as a real question. Alex looked down at him as he looked back at him, evaluating that fox, who seemed to actually being smart, despite being way smaller than the cougar himself, and obviously far less bulky and muscled, the fox could actually mean problem if he was way too smart.

"Would that be a bad thing?" Alex asked, being sure to measure the reactions of the fox, to see what he would do next. It took only a few moments before the fox said:

"Well, if I was any other fox, I would answer with something clever but…" He said, putting the boxes he was carrying down. "… seeing my profession, I will have to say that it means a little problem for you." He stood and puffed his chest, purposely letting Alex see the police uniform he was wearing.

_Oh, bloody hell…_ Alex said mentally as he looked at the unmistakable blue uniform of the police that the fox was wearing, and knowing that the fox was not only a cop, but also a smart one, by itself meant a lot of problem that could come to Alex's side.

Nick continued to look at the cougar, measuring his reactions as much as the cougar was measuring his'. It was clear that they were both smart mammals, and that they should both be able to talk calmly and from equal to equal. Thinking on that, Nick said: "So, there is a bus stop right in there, can we make a stop by there to talk?"

Alex looked at him, and nodded, and he soon was walking with the fox in direction to the bus stop, and soon, they both were sitting into the bench. Alex had even offered to take the boxes that the fox had been carrying, which Nick accepted, and took as another sign that the cougar was not as bad as he had first seemed, or at least that he was somewhat decent.

Once they were sat down, Nick opened one of the boxes, revealing that they were full of donuts. "Want some?" He offered to the cougar, and Alex gladly accepted. He took a bite, and it was delicious.

"Hey, this is rather good." The cougar said, and Nick answered:

"Yeah, the Donut Safari makes the best donuts in Savanna Central." The fox said, and Alex looked at him, and they just stared at each other for a few moments, before the fox offered his paw. "Nick Wilde."

Alex looked at him, and shook his paw with his much bigger one, "Alex Hunter." Next to it there was a brief silence, and Nick said:

"I already saw you before."

"Huh?"

"Last night." Nick said, "When you dropped into our car."

"Oh!" Alex said, looking at the fox, and remembering that he had dropped into a car. No one had told to him that it was a police car. Alex was surprised, even more for a cop that was on that car, was there talking with him. That was enough to keep Alex surprised, still, he didn't forgot that he was an officer that had just caught him stealing and, despite that world being strange to Alex in many ways, he doubted that crime of smuggling wallets would be taken lightly.

"So, getting down to business." Nick said to him, making Alex looked at him, and their green eyes met each other. "I'm a smart mammal, and you are surely a smart mammal too, so let's just have an honest talk, one mammal to another. I mean, let's pretend that I am not a cop and that we are just two guys talking in the street about their lives. Come on, one predator to another?"

Alex looked at him, and after a while, he sighed, "You saw me do it, then I guess you already figure it out, didn't you?" Alex said, and Nick nodded.

"You bump into the mammal, and smuggle the wallet in the process. You open the wallet and takes only a little of the money that there is in there. Next, you deliver the wallet back to the owner, making it seem that the wallet had just dropped when you two bumped and that you are just being a good citizen by returning the wallet to the poor unaware victim. The victim does not expect a smuggled wallet to be returned, so the victim does not realize the scam, and even if the victim checks the wallet for the money, once only a little bit of money was taken, the victim does not realize, unless looking with very attention. By them, you have already moved away and the victim can no longer reach you." Nick said, describing very well the trick that Alex had been using with very much efficiency for the past hour.

Alex looked at him, and he let out a small chuckle, "Yeah, I guess it is true what they say about foxes being clever." He said that without thinking that it might be an offense, but Nick didn't minded. He already received a lot of that in the past, and that cougar was actually nicer than many of the other animals that Nick had met in his past, that received him with dismissal and rudeness. That cougar was actually very nice to be around, only giving Nick more reasons to think good of him instead of bad.

"Anyway, I only steal from people who have a lot of money and who will not miss it. Like that rhino, you believe that he had around two hundred bucks in his wallet, and from that I only got-" Alex was about to say something, holding up the twenty zoolars note, but as he did, he suddenly stopped, and he looked straight at it.

"…buck…" He said, as he stared deeply into the head of the stag that was looking back at him. Nick noticed this, and the cougar turned to him, and said, "Is this… the pun was intentional?" Alex said, being only able to think that this was a pun. Nick however, looked at him confused.

"What pun?"

Alex looked at him and he said, "No. Nothing. Nevermind." He said, and looked away, knowing that he would only sound crazy if he did that, and he didn't wanted someone else to think that he was a lunatic. He sighed, and he continued:

"I haven't needed to use that trick in a long time." Alex said to him, and Nick looked at the cougar as he continued, "I learned it from a guy. A street rat that wanted to use me as a source of income for himself. Luckily my mother pushed me away from that life long time ago, making sure to let me know that she wanted more to my life than to be a smuggler."

Nick nodded, feeling like he could sympathize with the cougar, "Yeah, I too didn't had exactly an honest life a while ago. I mean, before I became a cop." Nick spoke that, and he added, "And I had a lot of trouble of relationship with my mom because of that. She always said that I was wasting my potential, and that I could be much more than just a scammer."

"She too pushed you out of that?" Alex asked, and Nick said, "Actually it was my partner. Of course, that was one year ago, during the Night Howler incident." Nick said that, and Alex looked at him.

"Who?"

Nick looked at him, surprised as it seemed that the cougar didn't knew. "Night Howler incident?" Nick tried again, but the cougar only looked at him. "Toxic flowers? Ex-mayor Bellwether? Missing mammals? Savage predators?"

Alex only continued to look at him, and after a while the cougar said, "Sorry, I'm not from here, I have no idea what you are talking about."

That really caught Nick off guard, and he took around five minutes to explain to him about the Night Howler case, which was about the ex-mayor Bellwether who made a serum with a toxic flower that caused the afflicted predators to become savage. That this caused a wave of fear into the prey of Zootopia, what stirred a wave of hate towards the predator population.

That left Alex in wonder, it was quite a story. "Yeah, it was a difficult situation, but you have to consider that the prey were all scared." Nick said, and he added, "During this time was almost impossible for a predator to live in Zootopia peacefully. I mean, we only make up 10% of the population."

Alex nodded, as he totally understood what was to be into a minority and having to deal with the fear that the people had from you. He could totally understand the kind of situation that the predators of Zootopia had faced during this time. He totally could.

"I'm surprised that you didn't heard about it." Nick said, "I mean, it was in all the journals and in the internet for some months. I think it was the main topic in the area of the Three Burrows."

Alex simply shrugged, really unsure of what he could say about it, but he was able to think that this "Three Burrows are" was something that was a little familiar to his home. Still, Nick said, "But, back to topic, what would your mother say if she hears that you have been back into smuggling?"

Alex looked down, and he said, "She died ten years ago."

"Oh…" Nick said, kicking himself now, and feeling like a jerk. He wanted to make a good score with that cougar, and he would be unable to if he screwed things up like that. Alex sighed, and he said:

"But, you are right, she would not like it. She raised me better than that." Alex said that kind of distracted. "But… I don't really have a choice. I just arrived in Zootopia yesterday, I'm not even sure of where exactly I am, and I don't know anyone. I was with my friends, of course, but I got lost from them, and I don't know where to go next. I don't have a place to stay or anyone to talk to, and I need money." Alex said simply, he sighed heavily, "I'm pretty sure that my mom would understand why I had to do it."

Nick reflected a while about what the cougar had said, choosing carefully his next words, trying to make the best choice of words to conquer the animal's trust. "Well, you can go back to the hospital, after all, we talked to the doctor, and they don't seem to mind hosting you into there for a day or two."

Alex sudden perked his ears as he heard the hospital being mentioned, and as soon as the fox finished, he turned to him and said, "So they can put me on a padded cell with a straightjacket? No thanks! I have spent enough years in straightjackets!" Alex said, not caring about how it sounded.

"Oh… really?" Nick asked, and only then, Alex realized that his words could be misinterpreted.

"No! Is not what you are thinking!" Alex said in a rush, and Nick raised his paws defensively at him.

"Hey, I'm not thinking anything." He said, and Alex looked at him, after a while, they both calmed down, and Alex looked away, and he said.

"I don't want to go back to a place where they will lock me up as if I'm a monster." Alex said, and Nick realized that the cougar had already been locked up, for one reason or another.

Nick knew that he had to choose his next words very carefully, for he was treading into an unknown and possibly unstable ground. He spoke: "Look, the doctor is a nice guy, and he just wants to help."

Alex let out a snicker that sounded somewhat like the sound of a cat, and Nick looked at him, before Alex turned back at him. "I already met people who 'wanted to help', and they caused me a lot of pain. They almost broke me." The cougar looked at Nick deep into the eyes, and he spoke "Because of these people, I spent years of my life scared to get out of my home." Alex said that as if it was the purest truth, as if he had really suffered into the paws of someone who promised to help him. Now who and how was totally up to Nick's imagination.

"So sorry if I have trouble in trusting in people who look at me like I'm some kind of freak and then claim that they want to help me, or 'fix me', or anything of the like." Alex concluded, looking away and crossing his arms, and letting it clear that the discussion was finished about this topic. Nick looked at him, and he imagined that the cougar must really had passed by some bad times into his life.

Nick looked at him, and he said, "You know, maybe some people who say that they want to help you really do want to help you." Nick said "And besides, I think the hospital might not be so bad, considering that I just saw you stealing money from someone a few minutes ago."

Alex perked his ears, as he looked at the fox, and he said, "Are you giving me the option of going to the hospital and be locked as a lunatic or going to jail and locked up as a criminal?"

"I'm saying that you are finding a lot of trouble in the past hours." Nick said, trying his best to make it clear to the cougar that he was not his enemy. "I'm saying that I saw you stealing from someone and that as a cop I have a job that I had promised to do, due to this badge, and I have to honor it." Nick was trying his best to make a point in there, but he was also making clear to the cougar that he was not kidding in there.

To Alex, that discussion was lost. He knew that he could not give his own arguments to the fox without making himself sound ridiculous or crazy, and he knew that he didn't wanted to be locked up either way. So, he could only decide that it was the time to walk away.

"Well, it was very good to have this chat with you, Officer Wilde, but I'll have to go now." Alex said, and he turned to leave, but as he did, the fox stood up into the bench, and he said, "Sir, I'm afraid I cannot let."

Alex looked at him, and the fox once more said, "My partner forced me to walk around the city in order to search for you before you got into trouble, and it seems that you already have. If she hears that I let you walk away like that she will never let go of my tail again. So, I'll once again ask you politely to come with me."

Nick's face was serious as he spoke that, and he was going to let it clear that he was not taking a "no" as an answer, and that he was going to insist until the cougar said yes. Alex simply looked at him. This Wilde seemed to be a nice fellow, but Alex knew that he could not simply go with him. So, looking the fox up and down, he stood up, standing as straight as he could, and he said, "I'm pretty bigger than you. Not to mention that I have claws and teeth, and that I'm stronger."

Alex spoke it gently, and it didn't sounded as a threat, but only as if he was stating a fact. "So, if I wanted to walk away, and you wanted to stand in my way, I could very well knock you out with a single slap."

Nick looked up at him, and he answered, into the same tune of voice, as his paw travelled to the handle of his dart gun. "So, are you saying that you will resist?" He said as he held the hilt with rather a bit of strength, and Alex saw that.

In the moment Alex saw the handle of the gun being held, he knew that the fox was armed, and he knew that this could very well be a great problem to him, but still, he was not willing to go with the fox to wherever it was. He remained with a cool expression and looked at him as he used the same tune to talk to him, and he said:

"I'm not resisting to anything. After all, you don't have any true evidence against me, and you could very well have misinterpreted what you saw earlier." Alex was playing with his intelligence, and he was the smart kind, just like nick had imagined of him. Alex knew how to play the game of law just as well as Nick himself. "I'm just saying that, if I wanted, I would pounce at you so fast and hard that you would be out before you had the chance to understand what happened." The cougar said and, giving a quick glance at the handle of the gun, where Nick's paw was, he added "And you wouldn't have a chance to use that."

For a long moment, they both stared at each other's eyes, neither of them moving and neither of them blinking, as they stood there into the desert street. For who looked, it would seem that they had both became statues that were glued exactly into the place that they had stopped, and that they weren't even breathing, as if they were each just waiting for the other to make a move so they could be the first to react and the first to win. Just like the old cowboy movies.

After what seemed like an eternity to the two mammals, Nick Wilde finally sighed, as his paw traveled away from his dart gun, and he put both hands into the air, as if he was giving the silent message that he was surrendering.

"Well, I tried." Nick said, sounding defeated, and Alex was able to hide his surprise.

He wasn't expecting this to work, but it seemed that it had. Indeed, the fox hadn't any proof against him, and Alex could simply walk away and claim that the fox didn't saw what he thought he saw. Anyway, that was settled, and with that, Alex was finally able to relax. He turned away from the fox and started to leave, but in there, he made a stupid mistake:

He gave the fox his back.

As Alex was walking away, he barely noticed the movements of the fox behind him, until he heard the * _click_ * and he felt something tripping his left ankle and preventing him from moving his foot away.

"What the-!" Alex cried out as he looked back, and he saw officer Nick Wilde looking up at him, before backing away. Alex looked at his foot, to see a band of metal that was connected to a chain, that was connected to another band of metal, that had been attached to the feet of the bench.

Alex looked astonished at it, and then at the fox, as he tried to move his ankle, but it was trapped. The guy had cuffed his leg to the bench!

"Why you!" Alex said as he tried to liberate his foot by pulling with all the strength he had, but it seemed that the cuffs were made of reinforced metal, strong enough to handle the strength of a feline his size, and now, the fox was out of his reach and he simply watched the cougar with a bemused smile.

"Just doing my job." Nick said defensively as he kept shrugged, as if he was simply apologizing for doing something that he was really supposed to do. While this, Alex continued to try to break free from the cuffs strapping his leg at that bench. Well, it didn't helped that the bench was screwed to the ground, and so, there was absolutely no chance of it moving whatsoever.

As Alex was trying to free himself from the cuffs holding him down, Nick's intercom buzzed to life, and Judy's voice could be heard coming from it. " _Nick? Nick, are you there?_ "

"Nick pressed his intercom, and he said, "Hey, Carrots, how you doing? You'll never guess what happened!"

" _It has to do with you not being into the place you said you would be?_ " She said, sounding as if a mother who was scolding her kit for lying at her. " _What was the plan, to use this to sneak away so you would leave me planted in here?_ "

"I found our runaway cougar." Nick said, deciding to go straight to the main point to get Judy to get off his tail before she pulled some fur out of it. While this, Alex continued to pull at the chain in a futile attempt to pull himself free.

" _What!?_ " Judy nearly screamed, and Nick continued.

"I was just getting out of the shop with our donuts when I sighted him smuggling the wallets of other mammals. I followed him, we had some talk, and then I managed to cuff him to a bench." Nick said as if he was narrating the events of his favorite soap opera, and in the end he added. "No big deal."

" _Nick! You saw the suspect and you followed him without requesting reinforcements!? Are you out of your mind!?_ " Judy asked, _"He could be dangerous!"_

"Hey, Carrots, calm down, I got him already, he is cuffed to a bench that is nailed to the ground and I'm at a safe distance from him. It is everything okay. Besides, if you want my opinion, I think he is not as dangerous as he looks." Nick finished.

As Nick talked with his partner, Alex continued to try to free himself. He could not accept that he was caught like that and that he was going to be either locked up or arrested. He looked to all sides, trying to find a way out, but he found none, and he looked at the fox.

He surely had the keys, but of course that he was not going to let Alex have them. Alex knew that he was already in trouble, so he needed to get out of that by any means necessary. Alex already did things in his life, and he was willing to do some more and to step a few boundaries. Which included a few things regarded to policemen.

Alex wanted to escape, and he wanted to escape before he was into a situation that he would be unable to come out from later on. He looked at the fox, and he was seeing that the canine had made the same mistake that Alex did: he was giving him his back.

With one last look around, to make sure that the street was desert, and that there was no one around, Alex looked fiercely at the fox, and took a deep breath, before letting out a sigh.

* * *

Judy was very nervous.

She had waited for almost twenty-two minutes for her partner to return, she then got feed up waiting and she went after him, just like she said she would. Arriving in there, she saw that he was not in sight, and so she searched for him in all possible places, including the males' restroom. She contacted him to scold him and to know his location, to find out that he had sighted the cougar and gone after him without any backup, and that he had managed to cuff him to a bench after talking to him.

Judy could not even start to count in how many different ways Nick had put his own safety at risk by doing that, and she was too nervous to think about that in the moment.

"Nick, you should have called me in the moment you saw him." Judy said in her radio, and Nick soon answered.

" _Oh, Carrots, you are worried about me, that is so sweet._ " He said, and Judy rolled her eyes at him, but this didn't stopped Nick from continuing. "But, don't worry, as I said, I talked to him, and I believe that he is not so dangerous."

"Still, you need to be careful at him! Tell me where you are!" Judy said, wanting to be in there to give Nick backup if he needed.

" _Getting out of the donut shop, at the left, turning the first street corner that goes to the right. There is a bus stop with a bench on which. Our cougar is cuffed to the bench and I'm at a safe distance. And don't worry carrots, you know that I'm care-ARRGH!_ " Nick suddenly cried out as the radio buzzed like mad, startling Judy so much that she almost dropped her radio.

"Nick! What was that!?" She asked at the radio.

* * *

" _Nick!? Nick re you there?_ " Judy's voice continued to come out of the radio, which was fallen into the ground, very close to Nick's paw, which was twitching.

" _Nick!? What happened!? Nick, talk to me!_ " Judy called, and Nick's paw went limp, right before it was dragged along the ground as Nick himself was dragged.

" _NICK!_ "

* * *

Judy burst through the doors of the Donut Safari, looking at all sides and hyperventilating. She pressed her radio "Clawhauser! Clawhauser, answer me!"

"Judy! What happened?"

"Send backup! We have an 11-99, possibly wounded officer! Send paramedics too!" She said as she looked around, trying to think rationally and to remember the direction that Nick had pointed to her.

She looked at the left, and she saw a street corner that turned to the right of who was following. It had to be it.

She rushed to it as fast as she could, stopping many surprised drivers, and she was actually forced to jump over a few vehicles in order to be able to reach for the place, and as soon as she turned into that corner, she saw a bus stop, and at it, there was a bench, and cuffed to it…

Judy's eyes widened as she gasped, and she ran.

"Nick!" She called out as she approached the fallen form of her partner, cuffed to the bench by his wrist.

Judy quickly approached him, and started to touch his body. He was still warm, she put her ears next to his body, and she let out a relieved sigh as she could hear both his breathing and the beating of his heart.

She placed a hand in her own chest, glad to see that Nick was alive. She looked over, and she could see a distant shape turning the corner. She instantly knew who it was.

Looking at him, she wished to go after him and to dart him for that. But, right at that moment, her partner needed her.

But at that moment, Alex Hunter had just turned that personal.


	4. Chasing the Cougar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the incident with Nick, Alex now is officially on the run, while Judy seems to be heavily determined to catch him now. While this, Bogo seems to find out some new information about this cougar that leaves him deeply worried. All of this conbverges into a chance meeting that promises to ceate a sittuation from whch all of them would have to escape from working together.

"I said I'm fine, okay?" Nick said once more, as the antelope paramedic checked him for the tenth time, under Judy's request.

The bunny had been very worried in the moment she saw Nick in the ground, and she had insisted for the paramedics to check him very thoroughly, to be sure that the cougar had not caused him any lasting damage with whatever he had done to Nick. The fox knew that his bunny partner was just worried with him, but that didn't made the situation any less annoying to be checked over and over, as if he could have a hidden injury that would cause him to drop dead hours or days later if it wasn't found and taken care off.

"Well, the only wound you have is a slightly burn mark in your back." The antelope said, and Nick passed a hand over that area of his back, which was somewhat hard to reach. That had been the place…

Soon after, the antelope dismissed him, telling him that he was perfectly fine and that he could go his own way and so Nick did. He took only a moment to find out Judy, and she was speaking with Fangmeyer, a tiger officer, who was taking notes from her.

"I didn't saw where he went, but he took that road and turned to the right, and I'm pretty sure that he is heading somewhere else." Judy said as she gestured, and she gave a thoroughly description of the cougar, and of what he was wearing, and Nick approached.

"Hey guys!" Nick said, and Judy turned to him.

"Nick! Are you okay? What did the doctor said?" Judy asked; her voice filled with worry.

"Well, just that I have a small burn mark in my back from where I took the shock, and other than that I'm fine." Nick said, and Judy looked at him, before sighing in relief. Right after, she punched Nick in the shoulder, hard.

"Ouch…" Nick said, after a few moments of silence, rubbing his arm, and Judy looked up at him, before saying.

"Next time you see a suspect we are looking for, you call for me!" She sounded very serious as she spoke that, and she was making it clear that she was not joking or anything of the like. "What if he had actually managed to hurt you bad!? I am your partner! You can't leave me out like that! I need to get your back!"

Nick looked at her, and he could only sigh, and say an "I'm sorry" as he was unable to even look at her. He knew that she was not going to forget it easily, and that she would make him remember that for a very long time. Still, Nick felt very sorry for having slipped like that, and for causing her this kind of worry. He could see very well behind the anger that masked the true worry that she felt for him and for his wellbeing, and knowing that somehow felt even worse than what the cougar had done to him, even if Nick barely even remembered that…

"So, I've got Hopps testimony, now I have to get yours Wilde." Fangmeyer said, approaching the fox and kneeling to his eye level, and Nick nodded. He knew that it was standard procedure, and that now that the cougar had officially attacked a law officer, he had escalated to a possible criminal who was possibly dangerous. Fangmeyer had to get their testimony to know exactly what had happened.

"But… before I do, let me ask you one thing." Fangmeyer said, approaching Nick and whispering to him. "Is it true that you wet your pants?"

Nick closed his eyes and groaned.

Indeed, once the paramedics had arrived, they had soon noticed that there was a damp spot in Nick's pants, and it wasn't just from water that had spilled.

Composing himself, Nick said, "You too would if someone suddenly gave you an electric shock."

Nick had already dealt with the prejudice that any animals had of foxes, since he was young. So, he had already dealt with all the kinds of items against foxes that were fabricated, like the horns, which made his ears hurt like mad; the fox repellents, which itched like mad and smelled like sweaty rhino's butt; and the fox Tasers.

Nick had already been tased enough times to know what is the feeling of a sudden electric shock into his body. As he had felt with the moment that he had his back turned at the cougar. His mind barely even registered the sudden feeling of his body convulsing and of his muscles moving against his will as an electric current passed by them.

"He probably had a hidden taser with him somewhere." Nick said as he gave his testimony to Fangmeyer, who wrote everything down. "But… I'm not sure…" Nick added, and the tiger looked at him. "I mean, sure, the electric thing surely reminded me a lot of a taser, but, it didn't really _felt_ like a taser. Also, I was pretty sure that I was out of the reach of a regular fox taser, and I don't think he was carrying any kind of special equipment with him that would give the taser a greater range…" Nick said, as he thought about it, and as he was speaking with Fangmeyer…

"HOPPS! WILDE!"

The booming voice called both fox and bunny's attention, as they both looked at a recently arrived police car, from which came out a very pissed off buffalo in police uniform. Judy and Nick shared a look, and they both looked at Fangmeyer, as if they were asking for help, but the tiger shook his head, showing that he had nothing to do at this situation.

The two smaller mammals looked back at the chief, who gestured at the space in front of him, and it was a silent signal for the two mammals to come at him immediately.

They both knew that they were, most likely, in trouble.

* * *

"Bad use of your time!" Chief Bog said at the two, "Conducting a parallel personal investigation! Rendering a suspect without back up or evidence! Allowing yourself to be knocked out by the said suspect and letting him escape!"

The two animals winced slightly at each sentence that the buffalo completed. Bogo only looked down at they both, and he sighed deeply, as if to recompose, before he spoke to them once more.

"You did so many wrong things that I don't even know where to start, or how to actually pushing you two."

"What about going bed without dessert?" Nick said with a smirk, and Judy punched him in the arm, at the same time that Bogo shot him a glare that would make animals twice Nick's size corner and whimper in fear.

The chief took another deep breath and he sighed, and he said, "Any clue of where the cougar must have gone now?" He was massaging the bridge of his nose as he spoke that, and Judy was the first to answer.

"He took the Herd Street, by what Nick told he is probably heading for a place to hide."

"He has to." Bogo said, "After all, he just attacked a cop, of course that he will search for a place to hide. If he is still sane enough to think of it."

"He seemed sane to me." Nick said, and the two other animals looked at him, "I mean, he seemed to be in perfect control of himself, and he actually seemed pretty nice."

Bogo eyed him, and he said, "Right… that was before or after he shocked you with a taser?"

Nick looked at him, and at the ground, as he said, "Before…"

Bogo sighed, and he said, "Now we have to emit an alert to a lunatic predator into the streets." He said, and he turned to the two. "We are going to need cops who have some experience with the case."

The two looked at him, and the buffalo said, "You had the most contact with the cougar, and you two already got the case back in the hospital." He spoke that rather reluctantly, and he said, "You two are still in the case. Take care of that quickly and without causing trouble. No more of these. If you see the cougar, shot him with the tranquilizers."

That said, Bogo simply turned to leave, still massaging the bridge of his nose, as he thought: _These two are still going to cause me a stroke._

The two smaller mammals looked at the departing Buffalo, and Nick was about to turn to Judy to say something, but she was already out of his sight. Soon after, Nick heard her voice calling him.

"Come on Nick!" The fox turned his head to see her head and upper body perking out of their car, and she was calling. "We have a cougar to catch!"

* * *

Alex was walking into the street, barely paying attention to the animals in his way, as he only wanted to open the greatest possible distance between himself and the place where he left the fox guard unconscious and cuffed with his own cuffs.

Alex knew that he was in trouble for having attacked a law officer, and that he was now officially a criminal and he was officially in the run, for the cops would be after him. If the police was any like in his home world, then Alex was sure that they were all going to come for him for having attacked one of their own.

Even though Alex was pretty sure that the fox had not been severely hurt, Alex was sure that they would not take it lightly one of them having been attacked.

Now Alex was not sure of what he should do, but he knew that he needed to get to somewhere where he could hide and remain out of sight before he had his description running across the streets.

Still, Alex found it hard to think as he was deeply worried, and it didn't helped that he had not a decent way of locomotion, like a car or even a bike. Alex would be happy if he even had a skateboard.

Sighing, Alex decided that he still had some time before the cops would all come after him, and he decided to use walk more calmly into the street, even to avoid calling attention to himself. Alex had learned long ago how to go unnoticed, and it was important for him for a long time. It was the kind of lesson that he never forgot, and he was glad that he still knew how to walk without calling attention to himself, even if he was in a city full of animals.

Alex wondered what would be needed to be able to actually call attention in a place like that. Though he was pretty sure that, if people discovered more about him and about his past, and the things that he could do, he was sure that they would surely have him as the center of attention, for good or for bad…

* * *

Nick was still trying to scratch his back, and Judy looked at him as she continued to drive.

"Still itching?" She asked him, and the fox said, "That cougar burned me pretty bad with that taser…"

They were talking about the slightly burn mark that was left on Nick's body, into the place where the cougar had tased him. The burn itself was hidden beneath Nick's fur, the feeling of that was still clear to Nick. It itched and even stung slightly when he moved much, or as he pressed it into the back of his seat.

"These taser burns are the worst." Nick said, talking about his own experience. "But, a taser never did knocked me out cold…"

"Maybe it was a modified version." Judy offered, "Some animals do request modified versions of tasers that not only shock, but also can cause unconsciousness. Some even modify them themselves."

Nick was still trying to reach for that place, he knew that he should not scratch directly about it, for it could cause irritation of the skin, but he wanted to at least be able to scratch a little around the area, to alleviate the feeling that it was causing him. As he tried to do so, his partner continued.

"This kind of modification means that the weapon is made specifically for someone, or that who modified it has some understanding of the matter. That actually can make it easier to find and identify the taser, especially if we get our paws into it."

Nick looked at Judy, and he noticed the deadly serious expression in her face, and he said, "It is in the taser you want to get your paws, Carrots?"

Judy knew the meaning of that question, and Nick knew that she knew. She simply continued to drive, and she said, "That cougar is not getting away with this." She made a turn into a corner, and she added, "No one hurts my partner and gets away with it."

"You know, if chief heard you say that he would reconsider letting us stay in the case." Nick said, looking at Judy, who didn't looked back at him, and he said, "Carrots, I'm fine, he didn't really hurt me. I just need to let my uniform dry for a bit, but other than that I'm fine."

"You were down." Judy said, as she continued to look at the road, and her eyes still avoiding Nick. "I heard you screaming into the radio, and when I saw you, you were down." She seemed to almost be pained as she spoke that, and she continued to drive. "You were with a dangerous mammal, screamed into the radio, and I saw you down."

"Carrots, I-" Nick tried to say, but suddenly, Judy braked into a red light, and Nick was propelled forward, almost hitting his head into the front of the car as she stopped. The fox took a moment to recover, and he did just in time to see Judy looking back at him, as she spoke:

"Do you have any idea of how worried I got!?"

The expression on her face caught Nick off guard as much as the tune of her voice.

Judy always had a way to make him feel bad for not doing things her way, usually with that cute baby doll eyes that made him comply, or that look of a mother that made him feel like a kit caught stealing cookies from a jar. However, that look was different from these.

That look was one of the purest worry, and he also could see some form of sadness in there, as if Judy was truly suffering. For some reason, that made him feel horrible.

"Nick… When I heard you screaming into the radio, and you didn't answered me, I had assumed the worse…" She spoke, as she looked deeply into Nick's eyes, "You were with a dangerous animal in there, and I heard you screaming in that way…" She stopped, and she almost shuttered at the remembering of the way that Nick screamed, as if he was dying.

"When I saw you in the ground… I really thought that…", she stopped, her voice fading, and she looked down, diverging her eyes from Nick's.

Nick looked at her, and now, once more, he saw just how well that bunny could affect him. She had just caused him to feel absurdly guilty for not following the protocol. Not because of the protocol itself, but because it was making her be like that.

"Nick… You are my best friend." Judy said, looking up at him once more. "If something happened to you, I don't know what I would do…"

One more look into her eyes was enough for Nick. He had to look away; he could not stand looking at these sad eyes anymore. She continued to look at him as he looked away, and she looked down. For a long moment, none of them talked anything.

Soon, Nick felt something in his writs, and he looked to Judy, to see her looking in his eyes once more, as her paw was holding his wrist. "Please… don't do this again." She said meekly.

Nick looked at her, and he placed his own paw into hers'. "I won't." Nick said, "I promise." And he truly meant it. He didn't wanted to be the one responsible for making Judy have that look in her face again. Seeing that look in her face, specially being caused by something that he did, was a feeling that Nick truly didn't liked, and that he'd rather avoid if possible…

_BIIIIII_

The sound of a horn behind them broke their attention and made them look back. There was a car right behind them, and the light had gone green a while ago. Right now, they were locking the traffic. Judy quickly went back to the steering wheel and soon they were moving once more.

"Talking about a ruined moment…" Nick said, as they both continued their way, and the silence started to reign once more. "I won't do it again, Carrots." Nick said, causing Judy to look at him as she continued to drive, and she could see his smile, and he said, "I promise."

She felt that he was serious about that, and she was glad for that. She was actually able to smile at him once more, and she turned her attention back to the street. Still, her smile didn't lasted for very long, for she was immediately remembered that they still had a suspect to find.

All that was left for them to find out was where their cougar was…

* * *

Bogo entered the station, walking with firm steps as other animals, civilians and officers, passed by him and he was about to head back to his office, when he heard Clawhauser's voice calling him.

"Chief! Chief!" The overweight cheetah called as he waved his paw in the air, causing Bogo and some other animals to look at him.

Bog could not help but roll his eyes. The cheetah was very dear into the place, and he was rather good at his work, but he really needed to learn to be more subtle and not to call so much attention. Sometimes this was one of his flaws.

The buffalo sighed, and he walked in direction to his desk, and as he approached, he noticed that the cheetah had a worried look in his face. "What is it, Clawhauser?" Bogo asked, and the cheetah answered.

"They are calling you in the forensics!" He said that in a whisper, as if it was a secret, Bogo raised an eyebrow at him, and the cheetah said, "They told me to call you and to keep t rush-rush."

"What do they want with me?"

"I don't know." The cheetah said back, "They say that is something that they only can talk about with you.

"And why?"

"They only said that is something you told them to keep an eye open to."

This was enough to make Bogo immediately get straight, he looked at the cheetah with a surprised expression, and he said something that Bogo himself did not truly understood, and he simply rushed in direction to the forensic lab.

Clawhauser was left behind, not understanding what was that about, and Bogo was glad for that.

_Could it be?_ Bogo asked himself as he rushed past many mammals as he rushed to the door that lead to the forensic labs.

He opened the door, and he was met with a room that was much colder than the rest of the precinct. It was due to their equipment, that needed to be kept in a colder room due to their sensibility. At first, the room seemed to be empty, but soon, a voice called Bogo's attention.

"Chief! Thank God you arrived!"

Bogo looked down, to see a ferret walking in his direction. He was wearing a white colored coat and he seemed to be frantic as he walked in direction to the bigger buffalo. This was Ferris, he was recently hired to help into the forensic lab as an assistant, though many knew that the truth was that, with him in there, the results of all of their forensic evidence came out far faster.

"Ferris. What do you have?" Bogo said, his face as serious as it was possible.

"Well, I was taking care of things here, when we arrived the security footage of the hospital from which the cougar escaped. I was able to see the area where he left the hospital and walked away and… Well, you gotta see this." The ferret gestured, and walked in direction to the computers, and Bogo followed him closely behind.

The computer was smaller than what Bogo was used, and the ferret tapped the controls a little, and he showed an image that seemed to be from the side of a hospital, seeing from a perspective from a camera into a post. Bogo looked at the small screen as the ferret played the footage, and what he saw next made his eyes widen.

"What the…" He mumbled, as he pushed his hand forward and touched the image, making it replay again, and again. Bogo was left speechless by what he was witnessing into this image. "Are you sure this is real?"

"I double checked and made sure to run a few tests into the video, and it seems pretty real." He said, "But it is not all." Bogo looked at him, as he started to tap into the controls again. "After I heard about the event with Officer Wilde, I accessed the traffic cams from that area, and I got this."

As he said, another image, this one showing the familiar fox in blue with his back turned to a cougar, which undoubtedly was the one they were all talking about: Alex Hunter.

Bogo looked attentively at the image, and what he saw next made his eyes widen more than the last video. Once again, he forced the image to replay itself again and again.

"It too seems pretty real." Ferris said, and Bogo continued to look into the video playing into the computer, and the ferret said, "Chief, I know that when you hired me for this job, you asked me to keep an eye for weird things and to inform you if I ever saw one. I didn't knew exactly what you meant by 'weird', I mean, I already saw a lot of weird things in my life and in this job, but this…"

"Have you showed this to anyone else?" Bogo asked, his expression serious and his face unreadable.

"No, sir." Ferris said, looking up at him, "I have kept it quiet for now, and Hurriet made a pause for coffee, and I guess so won't be back for at least one more hour."

Bogo sighed, and he said, "Keep this footage hidden." He said, and the ferret looked surprised at him, "For now, this stays only between the two of us. And track the cougar through the traffic cameras, try to find out where he went and where he is now." And he turned around to leave, and Ferris continued to look at him.

"W-where are you going, sir?"

"To make a call." Bogo said without looking behind, and he exited the forensic labs, leaving behind a stunned Ferris.

The buffalo didn't slowed down and he passed by many other officers on his way. He passed by Clawhauser's desk, and he didn't stopped or slowed down as he said, "Clawhauser! Hold all of my calls!"

"What? Oh! Yes sir!" Ben said in a hurry, as his boss passed by him and walked to the stairs in direction to his office, and he closed to door, locking it behind himself.

He rushed to his desk, and he opened the last drawer from the bottom. There were a few things in there, but instead of looking inside the drawer, he instead started to fumble the underneath of it, and he felt his paw touching a piece of paper.

He yanked it from there, and he looked at the numbers write in there. Picking up his phone, he started to dial the number that he got in there, and then, he waited.

These few moments seemed like an eternity to him, until someone in the other end picked up.

_"Hello?"_

"Savage?" The buffalo said, drumming his blunt claws into his desk.

_"It is him talking."_

"It is Bogo. We have a certain situation…" The buffalo said to the mammal on the other end of the line.

* * *

Judy and Nick were still on the move, their eyes glued on the roads around them as they were searching for any clues of that cougar. They were searching for quite a while now, and they still had no clue of where the cougar could have went. Still, this time they were sure that they had more chances to find him now, once there were others on duty, searching for the cougar, and maybe they could pass his description to the public. A predator with mental problems roaming free into the street was surely a matter that would leave many animals worried, so, of course it was a job for the police to take care of.

They were going by the street that the cougar went on, but they were unable to find traits of him. Mainly because the cougar could have turned several corners by that time, and he could very well have moved to another part of the city. Still, the two cops continued to keep their eyes open for any sighs of their cougar.

Suddenly, their radio started to chime, and Nick was the one to grab it. "Here is Wilde and Hopps talking." He said, and Clawhauser's voice said on the other end.

_"Wilde, Hopps, I have a call on the other line, is a doctor Moosard, from the hospital. He said he wanted to talk with you two."_

Nick and Judy shared a look. Moosard was the moose doctor from the hospital the cougar had escaped. He said that he would call them to talk with them as soon as he had some news from the exams that they made from the cougar. Nick pressed the button of their com and said, "Can you pass him to us?"

_"Sure, I'll transfer the call right away!"_ Clawhauser said from the other side, and after a while, they com chimed in, and they could hear the doctor's voice.

_"Officers?"_

"Doctor Moosard." Judy said, and Nick added, "So Doc, any news about our cougar?"

_"Indeed, I have. We just received the results of the tests we ran in his blood, and we find something quite interesting…"_

"He was high?" Nick asked, but the Doctor soon answered.

_"No, we didn't detected any drugs in his bloodstream, but it is not the more interesting. The more interesting is about the rabid."_

"What, he is rabid?" Judy said, sounding alarmed. A crazy predator was already bad enough, but a predator who was rabid was somehow even worse. Nick and Judy shared a worried look.

"Doctor, are you saying that Alex Hunter has rabid?" Nick talked to the cougar, and he gave a good look at him, and while the cougar did seemed to be quite confused and that he was not willing to go back to the hospital willingly, he was pretty sure that he was not drooling nor foaming. If he had rabid, he was hiding it pretty well.

_"No."_ Was the doctor's answer. _"We didn't found any trait of the rabid virus in his system."_

The two animals shared another, confused look. "So?" Nick asked, and the doctor continued.

_"We didn't found any trait_ at all _of the rabid in his system. He was never vaccinated against the rabid."_

This really surprised the two officers.

"Rabid vaccine is standard in all mammals." Judy said, as she looked at the fox, who looked back at her with the very much look that she had in her face. "Everybody has already been vaccinated by the age of five."

"Doctor, are you sure?" Nick asked, and the moose on the other end of the line said:

_"Yes, we ran the tests, and we are sure that he was never vaccinated against rabid."_ He explained, and he added: _"But not only that, we also were able to see that his blood is free from several other antibodies, what tells that he has never received half of the standard vaccines._ "

Nick and Judy shared a look, and the doctor continued. _"Also, we are making some other tests with his blood, because his antibodies seemed weird."_

"Weird how?" Nick asked.

_"Well, it is hard to explain, so we are still running the tests to be sure that is not just an impression. We will have more solid results by the end of the day. Still, I recommend you to be careful around him, and to locate him as soon as possible."_

"We will, thanks, doctor." Nick said, and soon after the doctor hang up on his side, and Nick put his intercom back in place. Judy looked at him, and she said:

"He didn't received half of the standard vaccines when he was a child?"

"Yeah, it is what it seems." Nick said, and he added, "Maybe his parents didn't had access to the vaccines?"

"I was born in Bunnyburrow, and I can assure you that it may not be very advanced, but we all have access to vaccines in there, I have been vaccinated, as well every one of my brothers and sisters." Judy said, and Nick continued to think a little more.

"Maybe his parents didn't believed in vaccines?" He offered, and Judy thought a little more about it.

"Maybe… but we will know for sure once we get him." She said, going back to look at the street. So did Nick, as he added in a low voice " _IF_ we even find him."

They continued to look at the street, seeing many animals pass by, including a few cougars, but none of them matched the description of their cougar. By what they knew, by this time he could be in another precinct, and he could very well have hidden his traits not to be found. It would help if they would receive a message from back into the headquarters, to tell them the probable location of their cougar and where they should go to find him.

Still, Nick found himself pondering just where the cougar planned to go next, and what he could be planning to do…

* * *

Alex was walking into the city for a good minutes now, and he had time to look around the city, seeing all shorts of banners and promotional posters on the way, most of them talking about marketing, and Alex could not avoid a certain feeling of familiarity as he looked at them. One had the back of a tiger, with the words "Just zoo it". Other showed a gazelle wearing high hells, with the words "PREYDA" on top. Not to mention many more things that he was seeing into the street as he passed.

_Zootopia?_ Alex thought in his head, as the familiarity of all of these posters and banners passed by him. _It is more like "Puntopia"._

Alex continued to walk into the street, and he made his best to look regular and convincing. Still, he could not avoid the crazy twitching of his tail. Alex groaned as he put a paw on his own stomach, feeling the pressure building up inside of him.

Maybe that was what happened when you made junk food your only meal of a day.

Groaning, Alex continued to walk. He knew that he should keep walking to open a good distance from the cops before they were able to find his tracks, but he knew by the pressure in his loins that he would not last very long if he continued to walk.

He needed to take a break, and he was pretty sure that he could not simply do it into the street. Looking around, Alex searched for a place in which maybe could have a restroom, a public one, a chemical one, _any_ one.

As he walked, Alex could see what seemed to be a shopping mall at the left. It was a white building, with black strips in it, much like a zebra, and it had the readings: **SAVANNA SHOPPING MALL**.

Shopping Malls like that usually had a bathroom in there. Alex knew that, and he knew that he wanted one as soon as possible, for if he continued to walk for much more time, it was probably going to happen a tragedy.

His mind still tried to rationalize with him that, if he actually made a stop in there, he could possibly be followed. Still, Alex soon rationalized that he had walked a while since that place, and that he could very well make a stop without any danger, as long as he made it quick and he resumed walking soon.

So, Alex turned and started to walk in direction to the entrance of the place. Many other animals were walking in and out of the place, some tall giraffes and also some really small rodents. Alex barely minded them, and no one gave him a second look as he passed by all of them, aiming to find the nearest male restroom as soon as he could.

As he walked inside, Alex didn't even noticed the traffic cameras that were on the nearby posts, including one that was pointing straight at him as he walked inside…

* * *

Ferris was looking at the recordings of the traffic cameras, following the steps of the cougar since he had left Officer Wilde unconscious and cuffed to that bench.

He had to fast-forward a few parts, but he was able to keep a trait of the movements of the puma as he walked into the streets.

He had went by the Herd Street, and he moved on the 28th, and then he made the curve into the Giraffe Neck Street. He continued in there for a while, and Ferris was wondering what he was planning.

After a while, the cougar seemed to stop, and he looked at some direction, and he started to move to another place.

Ferris followed his moves through the traffic cameras, and he could see the cougar entering into the Savanna Shopping Mall. The time of the cameras was showing that it had been only two minutes ago!

"Got you."

* * *

Bogo just hanged off his phone, and he pressed his temples with his hoofed fingers, trying to ease the pressure that was building up and making his head hurt.

Suddenly, the intercom buzzed to life, and he could hear Clawhauser's voice. _"Chief, are you there?"_

Bogo pressed the button, and he said, "It better be important, Clawhauser, for your job's shake!"

The cheetah surely flinched at the other end of the intercom, for he hesitated a while before he spoke. _"I-is that, Ferris is on the other end, he said that he tracked the cougar, and that he known where he is."_

Okay. _THAT_ was important.

* * *

Nick and Judy were on their car, and Nick sighed, as he spoke.

"Maybe we should go back, Carrots, I think our cougar is out of reach now."

Judy was about to answer, when their radio buzzed, and the voice came, but it was not Clawhauser's, it was the voice of Chief Bogo.

_"Hopps, Wilde! Are you two there?"_

They looked at each other, and Nick picked the radio, and he pressed the button to talk to their chief.

"Wilde talking, me and Hopps are here, we are going back to central."

_"Change in plans, we tracked the cougar through the traffic cams, he is at Savanna Shopping Mall."_

"Oh…" Nick said, and he looked at Judy, before their boss continued.

_"You two are the closest to the place, and we want you to go in there."_

Judy seemed to be happy to hear that, and Nick pressed the intercom, and he said, "So, we are going to make the arrest?"

_"Negative."_ Bogo's voice said, and this surprised the two mammals. _"You two are going to put your vehicle in front of the establishment and wait outside. Do not approach the cougar unless he tries to leave. I'll be sending the SWAT to back you up."_

The SWAT?

Bogo was really planning to send up the SWAT in order to help them with a cougar?

"Chief, are you sure that you need the SWAT?" Nick asked, and he said, "If is because of that shock he gave me with the taser, he only managed to do that because I was distracted." Judy rolled her eyes, and Nick continued, "Look sir, I'm pretty sure it is not needed."

_"I decide what is needed or not."_

"Sir, seriously, I think Hopps and I can easily-"

_"YOU WON'T APPROACH THAT COUGAR!"_ Bogo's voice boomed through the radio, startling Nick and almost making him drop the. Judy too had been startled by that sudden explosion by their boss part. There was a silence, as Bogo seemed to be recomposing himself, and then, his voice came again by the radio:

_"That cougar is much more dangerous than we thought."_ He seemed to be still trying to keep composure as he spoke that to them by the radio. _"Don't approach him until the SWAT arrives. If he tries to leave, you two stop him, and if he offers any resistance, than you are clear to dart him on spot. And don't turn the sirens on, we don't want him to know you are coming. Copy?"_

The two animals shared a look among themselves. More dangerous than they thought? Bogo was really considering him so dangerous that they needed the SWAT to take on him, and they had permission to dart him at the minimal sign of resistance? It couldn't be just because he had tased Nick…

_"Wilde, Hopps, do you copy?"_ Bogo's voice came again, and Nick looked at the bunny. Judy looked at him for a few moments, and nodded. Nick pressed the button of the radio, and said.

"Okay, approach the place with no sirens, watch the cougar from distance and wait for the SWAT to arrive, copy."

_"Good. Good luck, officers."_ Bogo said, and the radio buzzed off. The two animals shared another look among themselves, and soon, Judy was driving in direction to the Savanna Shopping Mall.

They arrived in less than five minutes, and they parked in a place where they could get a clear view of the entrance of the mall, and they keep an eye open for that cougar, if he ever came out of the mall.

They stood there for a good ten minutes, and neither of them was seeing the cougar come out of the building, though many other animals were coming in and out. "Well, sees like Gazelle's beneficent event is making some success." Nick mentioned, and Judy only nodded, paying attention to the entrance of the mall, as she was able to detect some suspicious movement in the entrance.

It was an elephant, by his side was a lion, and they both were wearing black clothes and they were standing into the entrance, as if they were waiting for something.

Soon, a group formed by a few wolves came, and they greeted each other briefly, and soon, they all were entering the place. Judy was able to notice that some of them were carrying heavy baggage, excessively heavy for a walk into the shopping mall. She also noticed that the lion had a piece of cloth coming out of a pocked into his pants, and it was black as their clothes, and even from that distance, the piece of cloth looked quite like… a ski mask?

At that moment, a lot of alarms started to go off in Judy's head, telling her that there was immediate danger into what she was seeing, and making she be suspicious about the group of animals that just entered the mall.

They were up to something, Judy could sense it. But what they were planning? Did it had anything to do with the cougar?

"Nick." Judy said, catching the fox's attention. "We need to go in."

"Oh, wait a minute." Nick said, as he saw that same familiar determined expression on his partner's face. "Bogo said for us to wait until the SWAT arrives. I don't plan to make him angry, do you?"

"I have a feeling about this." Judy said, and she looked at her fox partner. "We gotta go in there." And she didn't even waited for Nick's answer, as she exited the vehicle, and Nick was trying to find something to say for a few moments, before he was finally left alone, and he groaned, rolling his eyes as he opened his door, and jumped out of the car in direction of the shopping mall. He was only glad that, by now, the wet spot in his pants had dried, and he would be saved some very embarrassing situations.

Little did they knew that, as they walked out of their car and in direction to the shopping, someone had an eye on them.

Into a big, black colored van without windows, a black colored sheep was sitting into the driver's seat, and he was looking at the two animals into police uniforms who walked in direction to the shopping mall.

His paws griped harder at the steering wheel, as he muttered under his breath. "Shit!"

He reached on his pocked, and pulled out a carrot phone, and he quickly dialed a number in the fast dial, and he held the carrot phone up to his ear as it was calling.

"Pick up. Pick up. Pick up."

Soon the strong voice came into the other end, saying, _"What is it?"_

"Boss, cops going into the shopping!"

_"What? Have we been discovered?"_

"I'm not sure, there is only two of them."

_"How are they?"_

"It is that duo we heard about, Hopps and Wilde. The bunny and fox. Should we be worried about it?"

There was a silence, before the voice answered.

_"Any other cops or cars around?"_

"I only see them, and I don't see other police cars around." The sheep said, looking at all sides, trying to catch sight of any other cops or any vehicle of the ZPD around, but he was seeing none. "What do we do now, boss?"

There was another moment of silence, before the voice said once more. _"We'll stick with the plan. We'll do our part in here, and we will keep an eye open for these two little officers. You stay out there and be ready to pick us up on the right moment. But keep an eye open, if you see the shadow of another cop in there, you give me a call and we go for plan B. Got it?"_

The sheep swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat, and he said, "Y-yes boss." And he hung down the phone. Plan B really was something that made him feel very uneasy…

* * *

Alex sighed as he came out of the cubicle and walked to the sink, to wash his paws.

He had a little trouble to find a bathroom in there, and he had to walk for around ten minutes before he was able to finally recognize a sign that showed a bathroom around. Still, he had trouble to understand the signaling, which was the blue head of a stag with big antlers. He took a while to figure out if that meant that the bathroom was for males or only for deer.

Alex was admired with the different sized urinals in there, obviously made for animals of different sizes, and they had different volumes. However, Alex noticed that there was a predominant size that seemed to be for mammals around Alex's size. It seemed to be very interesting that this size seemed to be predominant in there, and Alex noticed that it made sense, for most animals that he saw in that city were approximately of his size, with the rhinos being slightly bigger, but overall, they all ranged around the same size.

Soon Alex was moving out of the bathroom, and walking back to the path he had made in direction to the bathroom, back to the exit. As he walked, Alex could not avoid passing by many stores that once again made him think back of his land, at the same time that they remembered him that he was into somewhere new and kind of strange.

Passing by a store that sold cell phones, he was seeing the special offer of carrot phones. They were basically normal cell phones, like the ones of Apple. However, instead of the bitten apple, they had the logo of a bitten carrot on the back.

Next Alex passed by a video game store, which showed a few games, like Beast Inside, Paragon, Zooborn, Overwolf, and City of Roars.

He also passed a small comic store, which had some comics of heroes like "Bat Wing", "Super Wolf", "X-Mammals" and "The Dash". There was also a few books of something called "Beasts and Battlefields", with the acronym being "B&B".

Finally, he passed by a record store, that has a poster showing of a special promotion of the CDs of the "Fur Fighters", "Guns n' Rodents", and "Lady Baa Baa". This all besides the CDs of someone called simply "Gazelle."

"…Puntopia indeed…" Alex said to himself as he continued to walk, and now that he was not in a rush anymore, he had time to stop and give a good look at the agglomeration of animals in the part directly in front of the entrance, right before the moving staircases. There was a lot of animals of all varieties gathered in there, and many of them were into a line of some short, and they seemed to all have CDs, posters and magazines in their hands.

Curious, Alex looked at them, and at the other end of the line, and he saw a face that was familiar to him.

He saw the same gazelle that he had sighted into the capes of the CDs of the records store back there! She was wearing a black and white dress, and by her sides, there were two burly tigers, both wearing black suits, probably her bodyguards. She was surely a pop star of shorts. She seemed to be autographing some of the brought objects, and even taking photos with the people who Alex assumed where her fans. As she was doing so, some animals deposited money into the nearby boxes.

Looking over, Alex could see a poster that had the readings. **TAKE PHOTOS WITH GAZELLE! THE MONEY WILL ALL GO FOR THE REFORMS TO TUNDRA TOWN'S SCHOOL FOR BLIND CUBS.**

"A communitarian campaign…" Alex said to himself as he looked at it, and the gazelle, whose artistic name seemed to truly be "Gazelle", was smiling brightly at everyone who came and donated, and she seemed to really like the work she was doing.

Alex didn't knew why, but he had a nice vibe on her, and he had the feeling that she really liked to help…

As Alex was busy looking at the beneficent event, he failed to noticed some animals that entered.

Judy and Nick were both walking into the mall, and they looked at the great agglomeration of mammals in front, all of them taking photos and autographs from the pop star Gazelle.

"Yeah, truly successful event, indeed." Nick said, as he noticed that many mammals were excited to be in there, and he could not help but remember of their dear friend Clawhauser. He was like, Gazelle's #1 fan, and he would love to be in there. Sadly, he didn't found any reason that would let him escape from his work in the front desk for a few hours to go in there, otherwise, he would surely be on that line, excited to take a picture with his idol.

Nick remembered that the big cheetah was sad for three whole days after that.

"Maybe we should try to get Clawhauser an autograph, since we are here." Nick suggested, but Judy barely heard to him, as she was focused into the animals that she saw into the entrance, and soon she was sighting two of them: the elephant and the lion.

They were both standing into the sideline, right besides the great line of animals that was making up the people who wanted to see Gazelle, and they were blending with the rest of animals who were around, seeing the event unfold.

She noticed the absence of the wolves that had came inside with them, but she noticed that mostly of the suitcases that they had brought was gone, and that the lion was holding one of them in his paws. They were standing in there, looking at all the mammals in the line, as if they were waiting for something to happen.

Judy felt her senses flaring up, as he nose was twitching and the fur on the back of her head was starting to stand. The behavior of these two was, in her opinion, very suspect.

She looked around, and she sighted a few of the wolves, and they too were standing into the sides, as if they were waiting for something too. Looking around, Judy was able to sight more wolves into the footbridges of the floor directly above, and looking over, she saw two more of the wolves sitting into a nearby coffee, and they seemed to be drinking something, as if to pass the time.

All of her instincts were telling her that something was going to happen.

"Judy, what exactly are we here for?" Nick asked, and Judy turned to him.

"I saw some mammals enter in here, and they seemed suspect."

Nick raised an eyebrow, and he asked, "Suspect, how, exactly?"

"I'm… not really sure." Judy said, and she continued to look, "I had a bad feeling about them. Look." She said, pointing over, and Nick saw the elephant and lion on the side, dressed all in black. "And there!" Judy pointed up, and Nick saw wolves dressed the same way into the above footbridges.

Nick looked at them, and he saw that they were in there as if they were resting. Actually, besides the choice of black clothing for a day like that, they didn't seemed that much suspect. Actually, they seemed to be just other mammals taking care of their lives into the mall.

"Carrots, I'm sorry, but they don't seem very much suspect for me."

"I saw them carrying some big suitcases inside the mall." Judy said, "I can feel that they are going to do something."

Nick already knew Judy and her "feels". The bunny was convinced that she could feel when someone was up to something, sometimes she was right, and sometimes it even seemed that the bunny had a sixth sense of shorts for this kind od thing. However, at that given moment, Nick failed to see how the behavior of these animals could be suspect. They were behaving just like any mammal that was in the mall along with them.

"Carrots, are you sure that we came inside because of these 'suspicious' mammals?" Nick asked, and Judy looked at him. "Are you sure that is not because of a certain cougar that we have been chasing by half of Savanna Central by now?"

Judy knew where Nick wanted to get, and she sighed, and she said, "Nick, I know what I saw. These mammals were acting suspicious… And is possible that the cougar has something to do with that."

"Hah!" Nick said, pointing at her, Judy quickly turned to him.

"Nick, he entered in this place just minutes before these other animals came in! It is possible that they are related to him, and that they are all plotting something together!"

"Okay, you are milking it again." Nick said, and Judy turned away from him, her eyes crossed and her nose twitching.

Nick sighed, and he said, "Oh, come one, Carrots, you know that this seems a bit forced of your part." He said, and Judy didn't say anything in answer, so Nick continued. "Look, I know that you were worried about me, and that you are angry at our cougar, but you can't simply assume that he is up to something bad." Nick said that, and he turned his eyes to look around, and he saw something that made his eyes widen.

"Speaking of our cougar, there he is."

Judy perked her ears, and she looked over to where Nick was looking, and she saw him.

The cougar was looking at the event with his paws in his pocket, and he seemed as if he was simply looking at it with interest.

Very much like the elephant and lion…

"Well, we confirmed that our cougar is here, now what about we go back outside and wait for the SWAT…" Nick started, but soon Judy was walking in direction to the cougar, a determined look in her face.

"Wha… Oh, come on!" Nick groaned to himself, as he was now pacing to get to his partner.

Alex continued to look at the event. He didn't noticed the two small animals walking in his direction, until a voice called his attention.

"Alex Hunter!"

The voice was female, and it seemed to be very close to him. Alex almost jumped as he looked to the sides, and after a few seconds, as second voice, male and very familiar to Alex, called him. "Down here."

Alex looked down, he saw two animals, one of them he already knew, and it was the fox cop whom he escaped from. The other was an animal that was slightly shorter than the fox, and it was a bunny. She had a pissed look in her face, and her foot was thumping into the ground as she looked up at him. She was wearing what seemed to be a bulletproof vest, with the badge of the police in her chest.

_Oh, boy…_ Was all that Alex could think as he looked at the two officers in front of him, one of which he had knocked out less than one hour ago, and that other one was probably the partner that the fox had talked about. Well, he never saw a bunny wearing police uniform, and actually, the way she was dressed, and the way that her little nose was twitching as she looked at him, seemed to be actually kind of cute.

The bunny stood up, and she said, "I'm Judy Hopps, from the ZPD." She said, pointing at her badge, and she added, "You probably already know my partner, Nicholas Wilde." She pointed at the fox, who made a small salute at the cougar. As Alex looked down at the bunny, suddenly her name rang a bell in his head.

Judy Hopps.

He remembered her!

She was talking to him when he was almost losing consciousness!

Man, talk about coincidences…

"Hmmm, hi." Alex said, and the bunny continued to look at him, and Alex said. "Well…. Ms. Officer…" He tried to come up with something smart to say, but soon, he realized that there was no easy way out of that one.

He sighed, and he said, "Okay, don't tell me, you are here to arrest me, right?"

"For escaping a hospital, smuggling wallets, resisting to prison, and attacking a cop with a taser." Judy said as she counted the charges of the cougar in her fingers, and Nick looked at him, and he said, "You have been in a lot of bad situations."

"It is the story of my life." Alex said as he looked at the two officers, and specially at the bunny. Still, Alex didn't felt as threatened by her as he normally was when he was dealing with cops. Still, her look made him feel very uneasy.

"Also, you can right now tell us if you have anything to do with these mammals in there." Judy pointed to the other side of the mall, Nick slapped his own face, and Alex looked over, to see where she was pointing.

"Which ones?" Alex asked, and Nick said:

"I think she is referring to the elephant and lion dressed in black."

Alex looked over, and soon he saw the two mammals they were talking about. The elephant was HUGE, and the lion was by his side, wearing the same set of black clothes that the elephant did. Alex looked curious at them, and then back at the bunny.

"Do you know these two?" She asked him, and Alex took a second before answering.

"I was supposed to?"

"Carrots…" Nick tried to say, but Judy talked first, directly at the cougar:

"Look, they have entered into this mall only minutes after you did, and they were behaving suspiciously." Judy said, and she looked at the cougar as if he could know what she was talking about. Alex was about to answer, telling her that it was probably a coincidence, but them something clicked in his mind.

"Wait, how do you know I entered in here minutes ago?"

"Oh, we have been following your moves by the traffic cameras." Nick said casually, with a grin in his face. "We started following you back in the moment you knocked me out and walked into the street."

In that moment, Alex could feel like the blood was being drained away from his features.

They… had him on TAPE!?

"Enough of that! Now you must answer a few questions!" Judy said, turning at the cougar, who looked down at her, and she said, "Now, I want to know who you are, exactly." Alex looked back at her, half in a daze, feeling like he had been caught. "You have knocked down my partner, what is bad by itself, but you must have done other things in the past! Chief Bogo believes that you are dangerous, and he seems to be sure of that, otherwise, he wouldn't have gave us permission to shot you in the spot, neither would he be sending up the SWAT to back us up against you!"

"What!?" Alex cried out, getting the attention of a few passing mammals, who looked at him.

"Yes." Judy said, looking at him, "The chief believes that you are so dangerous that he is sending the SWAT to capture you, and he would not do that only for you escaping the hospital and attacking an officer. They could arrive at any moment now, and before they do, I want to know why Bogo thinks you are so dangerous!"

* * *

Truth to Judy's words, right as they talked, two black colored vans with the capitals **S.W.A.T** were coming in direction to the mall. They parked around it, and soon, several mammals with weapons and uniform were walking out of them.

Nearby, a ZPD car stopped, and Bogo stepped out of it, and he walked in direction of the entrance of the mall, the agents of the SWAT following him closely behind.

Around, some animals were paying attention at it, between them, a black sheep that was on the steering wheel of a white van.

His eyes widened when he saw all these animals with dart weapons and uniforms, his heart started to beat loud and he started to sweat bullets.

"Oh shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" He said, as he pulled the phone, and dialed the number on fast dial, and soon, he was talking with his boss.

"Two dozens of SWAT agents right outside the mall!" He said, his other hand sweating and squeezing the steering wheel hard. "They know about us!"

He heard his boss cursing on the other end of the phone, and then he said. _"Now we go for plan B. Wait for us into the back exit of the mall!"_

"R-right!" The sheep said, and hung off his phone, and he started to maneuver the van, getting out of there as subtly and normally as it was possible, knowing that now things would get really ugly…

* * *

Inside the mall, the elephant hung off his phone, and turned to the lion, who had heard what he said about plan B. The lion looked up at him, and they exchanged a single nod.

The lion brought his paw to near his head, and he spoke into the communicator in his writs. "Plan B, everyone. Be ready."

Right after that, he reached in the pocked of his jacket, and he pulled out the ski mask. He wore it over his head, while the elephant by his side did pretty much the same, with a much bigger mask. The lien then reached into the suitcase, and pullet an object out of it…

The mammals around where all taking care of their lives, when suddenly, gunshots were heard.

Everyone in and out of the mall flinched, and some animals screamed.

The wolves in the footbridges all pulled out Gatling guns, and aimed down in direction to the crowd, while the two that were near the entrance also had weapons, and they stood into the doors, one facing the outside while the other was turned to the inside.

"Okay now!" The elephant in black clothes and mask said, his voice booming, while the lion was on his side, holding onto an AK47 at the crowd. "No one moves, and no one gets hurt!"

The animals all cried out as they ducked into the ground.

On the other side of the mall, three animals had their attention immediately called by the gunshots. The bunny, fox and cougar all stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to the elephant and lion, the later having a weapon in his paws, and seemed to be ready to use it and not be afraid to do so.

"Oh my god!" Judy said.

"What!?" Nick cried out in surprise.

"You can't be serious…" said Alex, just not believing into how bad his luck could actually be…


	5. Shocking Developments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things got ugly, a robbery with hostages is taking place, and the criminals seem to be willing to kill if they think it is necessary. Now, what to do in a sittuation like that?  
> Some lower their heads, because they have nothing to do. Some try to negotiate, because they are too scared and have no other choice. Some even try to hide and flee, for they know that there is nothing to be done.  
> But, when you can do something... will you do it? Even if it means exposing yourself and risking the hate and fear of other people? Even if it means giving up any possible chance of a normal life and risking being treated much like the criminals you are aiming to stop?  
> This is a choice that Alex Hunter seems forced upon himself. Soon, he takes his decision, and it will change the whole game around...

"Attention, please!" The elephant with the black mask covering his big face said, as the lion by his side pointed a loaded weapon at the other animals, who all remained crouched, kneeled, or even laid flat into the ground, covering their heads in fear.

"First of all, I'd like to say that I'm terribly sorry for this inconvenient, and that I would really thank if all of you collaborated."

"Look down!" Said one of the wolves who was around, also wearing black and with a mask in his face, to the zebra who tried to loom up at them. There was probably six of them around, along with the other eight who were into the footbridges above, all of them with the same kinds of weapons, and all of them pointing them at the mass of mammals in the middle of the shopping mall.

"I know that you all had other plans when you came to the mall this morning, and I'm sure that this was not among them." The elephant continued, as all the other mammals were scared, looking at him and at the other animals with guns, including the lion and wolf. "But, I can assure you that this situation will all be over in a few minutes, if all goes according to the plan. Oh, and for anyone who might be thinking that can play hero, you better not try. My friends in here have their weapons loaded with bullets, and they are not afraid to use it."

As he spoke that, one of the wolves triggered the weapon he was holding, causing some mammals to whimper and recoil in fear.

"I particularly was not very keen on this, but they insisted, so, I strongly recommend you all to avoid doing anything too stupid." The elephant finished, and all the mammals whimpered as dangerous criminals, armed with deadly ammunition and ready to shot anyone who dare to oppose them, cornered them.

"This is bad..." Nick said as he peered from behind the column that he, Judy and Alex had all hidden in the moment that the thing had started.

"I told you they were up to something!" Judy said, as she already had her gun out and begin readied.

"And what a something..." Alex said as he looked at the criminals in there, all of them with weapons. It seemed strange that someone would use this kind of weapons and personnel to assault on a mall...

However, as Alex remembered himself, there was having a charity event into that very same mall, and it was for getting money. These boxes actually looked to be kind of full, and it was safe to assume that should be around a few tens of thousands into them, if not more. Surely it was the kind of thing that would attract ambitious guys who would be ready to do what was needed to get an easy money.

As Alex was thinking that, Judy and Nick's radios both chimed to life, and Bogo's voice was coming from the other end, and he was sounding worried.

_"Wilde! Hopps! Status!"_

Judy took only one moment to grab her radio, and she talked into the radio. "Chief! We have a problem! Robbery into the mall!"

_"I know!"_ Chief Bogo said into the radio. " _I'm outside, with the SWAT. We just heard the commotion, and now we can see two armed wolves into the entrance! And what are you two doing in there!? I told you to not go into the mall!"_

Judy flinched, and she looked at Nick, who had that "I told you so" look in his face. Soon, they heard the radio again, with their chief's voice talking.

_"Nevermind that now. Give me your status. Are you hurt?"_

"Negative, Officer Wilde and I are fine." Judy said, "We are on the first floor, hidden, but we have visual of the suspects. There is at least 16 of them, one is an elephant, one is a lion, and the others seem to be wolves. They are carrying military weapons, and they are loaded with lethal ammunition."

_"What else can you tell?"_ Bogo asked, and Judy said:

"They probably came here for the money of the charity event. Right now they have a few dozens of mammals as hostages, and they are threatening to shot to kill." Judy said, and Nick pulled his head out of sight, and he said:

"Well, at least they don't know we are here."

Just as he spoke that, they could hear the leader of the criminals speaking:

"Now, since we have settled up all of the basic rules, I'd like now to speak with Officers Wilde and Hopps."

There was a dead silence as all of the animals expected. Alex, from where he was hiding, looked at the two small officers, who were looking at each other in surprise.

"Officers Wilde and Hopps?" The Elephant said once more. "May you come out from wherever you are?"

"How do they know that we are here?" Judy asked in a whisper to Nick.

"I don't know!"

"You!" Judy said, turning to Alex, "Did you informed them?"

"What!?" Alex said, surprised for the sudden question that sounded more like an accusation.

"We talked right with you just a moment before it all happened! What is your involvement with it?"

"Wha- I... What makes you think I have anything to do with it!?" Alex said in a whisper, really feeling offended for that small little cop thought that he had anything to do with that. "How could I have something to do with it!? If I had then why would I be hidden in here with you!?"

"He's got a point." Nick said, and Judy was about to say something else, but the elephant's voice came again.

"I'm not in the mood for games! We know that you are there, officers! Now, unless you want us to cause any unnecessary harm to these poor hostages, you will get out from where you are hiding, with your weapons in sight, and you will surrender pacifically!"

As he spoke that, one of the wolves triggered their weapons, causing many of the hostages to whimper and cry out in fear. Nick and Judy both tensed as they heard this, sharing a look.

Now they were in a difficult situation, if they surrendered and let themselves be disarmed, they would be totally helpless, and then they would be nothing more than other hostages in the power of these criminals, who would do god-knew-what with them. But, if they didn't do as they were demanding, they were probably going to open fire against some hostages, and as cops, that was something that the two animals could not allow to happen if they could prevent it.

They were outnumbered, and they had little chances of actually doing anything against these animals. They were really very low in choices.

It took only a few moments, before Nick closed his eyes, and he sighed. He opened his eyes once more, and he looked at Judy, giving her a nod.

Judy hesitated for a moment, and she nodded back at Nick. One year of being friends and partners gave them this talent to read each other, and now, they both had made their decision about what to do.

They both reached for their dart guns, pulled them out of their holsters, and held them into their paws. Before they went for their next course of action, Judy turned back to the cougar, who was looking at them, and she said in a whisper:

"You stay right in here!"

Alex looked at her, taken back by her assertiveness. The cuteness that he had saw in her was almost all gone, and instead, now she really looked like a very strong cop, like the females police officers that Alex had seen back in his own world. Alex could only nod at her, and she added:

"And poor you if I discover you are related to that!"

Alex didn't even had time to answer that, as both officers started to walk from out of behind the column, with their paws raised, holding their guns to the air, to show that they were obeying what the bandits had requested.

They were soon sighted by a nearby wolf, who pointed the gun into them, as the two police officers held their own weapons into the air.

The elephant looked at them as they walked, and he said, "Good to see you are willing to cooperate. Now, put your weapons into the ground and kick them away."

Judy and Nick shared a look, and they obeyed, putting their weapons right at their feet, and both kicking them to far from themselves. The elephant had a smirk underneath his trunk as he saw that, and he turned his head to one of the wolves, and gave to him a nod.

The wolf nodded back, and dug into a bag that was still into the ground, and pulled something else from it, it was not another AK47, it was something bigger, and with a more threatening look, and he aimed it right into the two officers. Nick saw it, and his eyes widened.

"JUDY!" He called out, jumping into the way, just as the wolf pulled the trigger.

Many animals cried out in surprise as the bazooka-like thing that the wolf had shot up a net that hit the two officers, making them both fall to the ground and tangling them into it.

Judy and Nick struggled as they had been caught off-guard by it, and now, they were unarmed and completely helpless. The elephant smirked as he saw that the possible threat had been completely neutralized.

Alex was hidden behind the column all the time, and he was able to peek from behind it to see what was going on. When he saw that big thing into the wolf's shoulders, there was a delirious moment in which he thought it was actually a bazooka, but them, he saw it throw the net into the two officers.

"A net launcher?" Alex said in a low voice to himself, but before he could say or think anything else, his attention was once more called back to the elephant, who resumed talking.

"Well, now that we have dealt with this, we can go on now, right?" As the elephant spoke, another wolf with an AK47 approached the fox and rabbit in the net, and dragged them, as they both kicked and tried in vain to get free from that net that was holding them down.

Alex watched it from behind his hiding spot, as he had a feeling that things were going from bad to worse...

* * *

...the situation was definitely going from bad to worse.

Bogo looked as the SWAT formed a perimeter around the entrance of the mall. This was supposed to be a simply apprehension of that cougar, but instead, it had somehow escalated to a situation with at least fourteen armed criminals who were with hostages in there.

It was amazing how things could escalate quickly like that. Bogo noticed that it had the tendency to happen each time in which _that guy_ somehow got involved. He and the kinds of things that were related to him... like that cougar.

As Bogo looked, he saw an animal walking in his direction coming from the entrance of the mall. It was one of the SWATs, wearing their uniform, and he was a boar with grey colored fur, bulky, and with a scar over his right eye, which was milky-white and blind, opposed to his other eye, which was of a shade of caramel. He had a small earring into his right ear, and his face made it clear that he was not there to play around and that he had already seem many situations like that.

"Bogo." The boar said, and the buffalo said:

"Razorback, talk to me, what do we have?"

"Two armed wolves into the entrance, they claim to have dozens of hostages and that if we try to approach the door they will start killing and they will throw the bodies into the street."

Bogo groaned. He had already dealt with situations with hostages before, and so did Razorback, this kind of thing was surely not new to any of them. Still, Bogo was worried with that cougar, for he knew that Razorback had never faced a situation with something like that cougar before.

Bogo himself did, but it had only been a few times, and it made a while...

"Hey, Bogo." The buffalo was snapped back at the situation by the voice of the boar, who looked at him. "Did you heard what I just said?"

"Huh? Sorry, I was distracted."

The boar seemed not to mind, as he simply repeated. "Me and the boys sniffed the place, but the problem is that a lot of mammals go in and out of that place every day, and we can't seem to find the smell of the guys. But, we can smell something that seems to be gunpowder, and this seems to confirm that they have lethal force weapons."

"This is a problem." Bogo said, and the boar nodded.

"It is not the first time that a crazy guy gets the paws into that kind of thing and uses it to threaten people. It is nothing new."

"Yeah, but they never took a whole mall as a hostage before." Bogo said, knowing that a number so great of hostages could very well end badly.

"They surely came in here because of the event that Gazelle was putting up. They said that she had already reached the house of the thousands in the start of the first day. These guys surely were thinking that they could snag on that money and run away before being caught. Still, I have to say that it is quite bold."

The boar looked at the mall, and he said, "They would probably have run by now if we had not arrived in here..."

There was a silence, as Bogo looked at the boar, and the porcine looked back at him, his expression hard to read. "Why did we came here again, Bogo?"

The buffalo didn't answered, just looked at him, before turning his sight back at the mall, but of course that the boar was not going to let it down easily.

"You know, we have been friends for a few years now, and I never was the kind of guy that questions everything. So, when you said that you wanted the help of the SWAT to bring into custody a 'highly dangerous mammal', I didn't asked anything, both because I follow orders and because I trust you"

Razorback looked at him, and he said, "But don't you take me for a fool. You requested a good deal of my best men, including me and my brothers, and you even asked to my superiors that we would be able to bring lethal ammunition to take care of this event. It seems like a lot of effort and care to take care of only one mammal."

Bogo didn't said anything, and he simply turned to look back Razorback into the eyes, as the boar looked back at him, and he continued. "Bogo, you are a good guy, but I can't help to find it somehow suspicious. I know that you don't get intimidated easily, and so, I supposed this guy you told us to arrest must be dangerous enough to scare you, what is very hard to do. So, I guess you can imagine my surprise when he was described as a cougar who didn't had any criminal or military record."

Bogo looked back at the eyes of the smart boar who, despite being smaller than him, was just as intimidating, in his own way. "You brought us here to arrest someone who was, by what it all seemed, a normal guy, who actually didn't seemed like he could be a danger. And right when we arrive, we see the mall suddenly being robbed. You know my opinion about coincidences, don't you?"

Bogo looked at the boar, and he understood what was being asked. The buffalo sighed, and he said, "Maybe the cougar is... related to this. I can't deny is a possibility, but I'm really not sure."

The boar continued to look up at him, seemingly not very much satisfied with this answer, and he asked, "Then why the team with the best members of the SWAT was called here? Why we came here armed until our fangs to catch a normal guy?"

Bogo looked at him, and he knew that Razorback had all the right to ask these questions, especially the last one:

"Why this Alex Hunter makes you so scared?"

Bogo knew that the boar, a long-date colleague and friend, had all the right to make these questions, and that he probably deserved to have them. Still, Bogo knew that he could not simply tell the boar them, for several different reasons.

So, the buffalo simply sighed, and he went back to the radio, pressing it and speaking.

"Wilde, Hopps, update, what is your current status?"

The boar looked at him. He knew that Bogo was not the kind to lie, so he would not say a lie to someone like him, who was an old friend and a good colleague. Still, he knew that the buffalo was not going to tell something for some reason. The boar simply sighed, as he already knew that he would receive something of the like as an answer, still, he thought it was worth a shot.

One thing was for sure, Bogo considered that cougar dangerous enough to be worried about him. And if someone like Bogo got worried about that cougar, then maybe it was better for the rest of them to get worried too.

There was a silence, as they both didn't had anything more to say to each other for the time being.

Silence.

Too much silence.

"Wilde, Hopps, update your status!" Bogo said once again, and he waited for an answer, but it was not coming. He was starting to get worried.

"Hopps, Wilde, are you two there? Do you copy?"

The buffalo once more waited for an answer, and so did Razorback, who was by his side, and listening to all of that.

Bogo felt a momentarily pang of relief as he heard the sound of the other end of the radio being activated. However, it immediately disappeared as he heard a voice in the other side answering, which wasn't Wilde's nor Hopps'.

" _Hello._ "

Bogo shared a look with Razorback, and he pressed the button of his radio to talk. "Who is it?"

" _My name doesn't matter, what matter is who I'm talking to. Are you the one in command outside?_ "

Bogo shared another look with Razorback, and after a few moments, the boar nodded back, and they both knew what to do.

"I'm one of them. The other one is right by my side. We are both hearing."

After a moment, the voice in the other end came again. " _Right, good to know. Look, you may call me Mr. E, and I have your two small officers in here with my colleagues and me._ "

Bogo felt his stomach churn as one of his worst worries was coming true. He took a deep breath, and he pressed the button of his radio again. "What do you want, Mr. E?"

" _Well, if you already spoke with my two friends into the entrance, than you know that we want all the cops and members of the SWAT to remain away from these doors, so, at the moment, it is all that I want. You will stay out there and stay away from the doors, to not make any sudden moves and not to try to make a fool out of us, because we are armed and with hostages, including the two cops in here. If you try any funny business, we are going to put bullets into the heads of your cops and thrown them into the street for you to recover their bodies. Did I made myself clear?_ "

Bogo shared a look with Razorback, and they both could say, by the tune of the voice of the animal on the other side of the radio, that he was not kidding. If they pushed wrong his buttons or made him feel pressured, he really sounded as if he would kill Wilde and Hopps.

" _Are you still there?_ " The voice came, and Bogo looked at the boar, who nodded, and soon, Bogo let out a defeated sigh, and he said.

"Yes, we are still here, and we understand what you said."

" _Good, now, if you have any more questions, you might ask to my associates into the entrance, and they will transmit the questions to me, and them they will transmit my answers all back to you._ " And he didn't even waited for an answer before he turned off the radio, and Bogo didn't even made an effort to try to reestablish communication.

That animal made already very clear what he wanted and didn't wanted at the moment, and that was how it was going to be.

"This day is just getting worse and worse." Bogo said, and Razorback patted his arm.

"Yeah, it comes with the job." He said, and Bogo knew that he was right. Now there was nothing that they could do about that, about their officers, about the criminals, or about the cougar.

Bogo would lie if he said that he wasn't worried about the armed criminals and the well-being of his officers, but definitely, the cougar was surely what was worrying him the most. The possibility that he was with the criminals, or if he was against them.

Honestly, Bogo didn't knew what one of these two options made him worry the most...

* * *

As soon as the elephant said what he wanted into the radio, he dropped both of the radios into the ground, and steeped on them hard, crushing them to nothing more than pieces.

Judy and Nick could only watch impotent as their radios, which had been taken from them in the moment that Chief Bogo called, were used by the elephant, leader of the criminals, to talk with their chief and threaten the lives of every mammal in there, including their own, if the ones in the outside tried to do anything. Next, they could only watch as the elephant stepped hard into the radios, destroying their only possible way to once again have communication with the outside.

The officers could only groan as they struggled into their net, which was being held onto by one of the wolves. The elephant, barely even minding them any attention, turned back to the animals, and he said, "Now, if you don't mind, we would like to take some of the money." As he spoke, he nodded at some of the wolves.

These wolves who he nodded to picked up the bags and walked among the animals, while the other wolves continued to aim their weapons to the mammals, as if they were ready to shot anyone who decided that wanted to play hero. As the wolves approached the boxes full of money, a female voice spoke.

"You can't do this!"

There was a silence as everyone turned to the source of the voice, which was no other than Gazelle herself.

She stood there, with an angry expression in her face, and the two tigers were still by her sides, and she spoke straight to the elephant.

"This money is for the school! You can't take it!"

The elephant looked at her, and he slowly started to walk in her direction. The animals who were on the way all moved out of the elephant's path.

As he approached, one of the tigers snarled and stood between him and Gazelle, but at this moment, the same wolf who shot the net into Judy and Nick, shot another right into the tiger, who got tangled into it as he was shot backwards.

Many animals gasped, and the elephant continued to walk to Gazelle. The other tiger snarled and bared his claws, but Gazelle put a paw in his shoulder to make him stop when she saw that the wolves were pointing their weapons at him.

The elephant approached, and he lowered himself to her eye level, and he spoke. "I know that you are worried with other mammals, but right now, I guess you should be worried about the ones in this mall, yourself included."

Gazelle only looked back at him, and she said, "Why are you doing this?"

"You mean, besides the monetary gain? Very simple." The elephant said, and he approached her even more, and he said, "Because I can."

Gazelle continued to stare at his eyes, with a look of disgust, and the elephant drifted his eyes to her neck, which was decorated by a very beautiful, and expensive-looking, sapphire collar.

"That is a very nice choice of jewelry for a special event like this." He said, opening a smile underneath his trunk, and his trunk moved to his wrist to grab something.

Immediately, the tiger by Gazelle's side snarled, his claws ready. The elephant pulled out what seemed to be a bag, and he held it with his trunk in front of Gazelle's.

"Do you mind?"

Gazelle only looked at him with the same look of disgust, before she slowly moved her paws in direction to the back of her neck, and untied the collar, before putting it into the bag.

"The rest of your jewelry too, please."

She removed her bracers and her ring, and placed them all into the bag, always looking at the elephant with that same look. However, the elephant little seemed to mind, as he simply removed the bag, now filled with the expensive jewelry, and he said, "Thank you for your cooperation."

He turned around, and he nodded at his wolves, and they all started to work.

Soon, the wolves were removing the money from the boxes and filled it into their bags, notes of zoolars being removed as the wolves all had smiles in their faces with the glee of getting their paws into so much money. There should be easily thousands in there, all gathered by Gazelle with some effort into this campaign, and all of that destined to help a school.

Well, now it was theirs!

Gazelle looked at all these animals with disgust written all over her face, as she simply could not believe in how selfish some animals were able to be.

While the wolves removed the money from the boxes, other were passing the bags by the hostages, and taking off their money, carrot phones, any jewelry, and any object that they had that could have some value.

"You won't get away with this!" Judy said, and the wolf holding both her and Nick snarled.

"You quiet!"

All the while, Alex was watching it hidden from behind of the column.

"Not good... Not good... Not good..." The cougar repeated to himself as he watched all of the events unfold. This was escalating very quickly, and he knew that this kind of situation could become a tragedy in a matter of seconds.

These animals were armed and they seemed to be ready to kill if they were defied, and the fact that they were surrounded while they held hostages only made the situation more difficult, because they were surely feeling under pressure, and a person (or animal, in this case) when under pressure, could do insanities. Alex understood enough of situations like this to know that it usually was only a matter of time before things would go shout and someone would get a bullet into the chest, or worse.

He also knew by his own experience that any cornered animal tended to attack, this included humans. The fact that these ones weren't humans, but anthropomorphic animals, did not diminished his worries, for he was to suppose that they were much like humans as much as they were animals.

Alex peered from behind to column, making sure to remain out of side at all times. He counted around eight wolves (counting with the two guarding the doors), including the one with the net launcher. Also, there was that that one that was some big feline (the rest of a thick fur coming from under the mask made Alex believe that it could be a lion), and the elephant.

The pachyderm was Alex's biggest worry, for while he didn't had any weapons in him, his size, and obvious brute strength, alone made him the most dangerous of that group of criminals. The elephant was so big that Alex supposed that he could easily stomp him to death if he wanted, as well as he could do with any other smaller animal in there.

While he looked at the elephant, Alex noticed that his paws didn't had fingers, so to speak, they were very much like a feral elephant's paws. The elephant was only using his trunk as a hand, and he seemed to be good at it. Alex didn't even had the time or mood to care about it, as he continued to look into the animals around.

The lion and the wolves were all armed with what Alex could recognize as AK47, with the exception of the one who had the net launcher. They could shot him dead in the moment he tried to stand to them. Not to mention the wolves into the footbridges of the upward store. They too were armed, and they had their weapons all turned to the hostages, and the position they had above gave them a good edge of advantage, as they could watch the movements of everyone underneath, and immediately shot down anyone who tested them. Alex was going to have to be careful with them, because in the moment they spotted him acting, they could very well...

Alex stopped.

Why was he thinking about doing something?

He couldn't. Not without calling out too much attention on himself.

But... the people in there were in danger, and these guys seemed to be ready to shoot them down.

No. There was too much of them, and they were armed, Alex would have absolutely no chance with them. They would shot him dead in the moment he tried to stand to them, the elephant himself would probably crush him out as if he was a bug.

But... Alex had already faced battles of the like in the past, armed thugs with weapons and things of the like, and he had managed to win. Of course, he never faced wolves, a lion and an elephant before, but still, Alex imagined that, if he worked hard enough, he would surely be able to beat them, after all, he had already beat some difficult enemies before.

But... he only was able to win in the past thanks to his abilities...

If he wanted to have a chance of defeating all of these guys, he would have to use them once again... And it meant to show to everyone in there what he could do, and exposing himself to them how he truly was.

That, of course, meant many things for Alex, as several images of things that had happened to him in the past when he did so came back to him. Most of them very unpleasant...

"You stay quiet!"

Alex could hear the angry voice, and it snapped him from his thought, and it made him look from behind the column, and he looked to see a wolf, one of the criminals, yelling at a lioness who was holding her little son in her arms.

"Stop crying!" The wolf screamed, and the little cub, who couldn't be older than six, continued to cry in fear as he hugged his mommy.

"Please, stop! He is just a cub!" The mother said, and the wolf screamed back.

"Or you make him shut up, or I'll shut him up for you!"

Alex looked at the young boy, scared and crying. And at the wolf, who seemed to be on the verge of pointing his gun at both the cub and the mother.

Seeing these two mammals in danger, a mother and a cub, sparked up something inside of Alex, and as he did, for a moment, it seemed like a spark had flicked in his eyes.

"I said shut up!" The wolf screamed, calling the attention of many of the mammals in there, and the mother hugged her son into her arms.

"You are a monster!" The mother cried at him, "It is predators like you that make the prey think the worst of us!"

The wolf seemed to take that as a personal insult, as he triggered his gun, and he pointed it at the mother. "Why you..." He snarled, and all the hostages, Nick and Judy's eyes widened in horror, as they all expected the worst...

However, before the wolf could actually shot, a furred paw grabbed the gun, and another one collided with his muzzle.

The wolf was stunned, and before he could react, he received another punch into his chin, and next there was his own gun hitting him into the stomach, making him bent over, right before a furred foot hit him in the side of his head, making him spin as he stumbled and backed away.

Many of the animals in there gasped, and they all looked at this brave mammal who dared to do that, including Judy and Nick, who looked at him with wide eyes.

Alex stood in there, holding the wolf's weapon into his hand, and the wolf took a moment to recover, while the rest of the criminals looked at that scene. Alex had his eyes only for the wolf, as he dropped that weapon into the ground, and only continued to stare at the wolf.

The wolf soon recovered, and he looked at Alex, and he pulled out an army-style knife, as he snarled. "You bastard cat!"

"Enough!"

The booming voice made the two mammals look at the elephant, who looked hard at the wolf, before turning his attention to the cougar.

"Well, I have to say that this is kind of embarrassing." The elephant spoke as he looked at the cougar. "You will have to excuse my friend in here, he has a lot of anger management problems, but I didn't expected him to resort to pointing a gun into a woman and her cub."

He really sounded as if he was apologizing for the behavior of the wolf, and he added, "I'm going to have a talk with him after this is all over, but for now, I have to say that you had an admirable course of action. Very brave. Not many mammals would do the same in your position."

Alex would feel a little flustered for a compliment like that, but he only stared at the elephant, who after a moment of this silence, cleared his throat, and he said, "Well, now that this situation is solved, you might want to go with the other hostages."

"No." Alex said, and he stood his ground, looking at the elephant, who looked back at him, surprised.

"I won't let you hurt anyone." Alex said, his voice firm and decided. Many animals looked at him.

Was the cougar insane?

He really was going to stand up like that to more than a dozen armed animals all by himself?

"Don't be a fool." The elephant said, "You already played hero, now sit down and lower your head, so we can get this over without very much causalities."

Alex looked back at him, and he spoke, his voice filled with a determination that catch everyone off guard.

"I'll give you all one chance, and only one chance." He spoke, and he looked at all of the armed thugs as he stood in place. "You will drop your weapons, go outside, and surrender to the authorities. You will return all of the money you took, and you will leave all of the hostages be free. You haven't stole anything yet, and neither have you hurt anyone, so, if you simply surrender, then maybe they will go easy on you."

The elephant looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He had not expected this kind of situation, even less from a small animal, who was, most likely, a civilian.

"And, what if we decide to don't do it?" The elephant asked, just doing so out of curiosity to what that cougar's answer was going to be.

Alex looked at him hard into the eyes, and he said, "Then I'll stop you."

The cougar was crazy!

Some of the wolves laughed at this, finding it funny that the cougar thought that he could beat them all alone and unharmed. Maybe if he picked up the weapon, he could at least put on some danger to them. However, even if he did, he would still be outnumbered by many to one, and they all had guns.

He really believed that he had any chance of actually representing a danger to them?

"This..." The wolf with the knife said, still cackling with laughter, and holding his belly from the hard laughing. "This is just so funny! You really think you can take on all of us?"

Alex didn't answered, he just looked at him with that same anger in his eyes, while the other animals looked at the cougar with pity for that poor cougar. The elephant himself shook his head, sorry for that clearly delusional cougar, and he said, "I really wished we wouldn't have to resort to this so soon."

He looked at the wolf, and nodded, and the wolf opened a toothy grin, and he played with his knife into his paws, as he looked at the cougar, and he said, "I hope you enjoy having your face cut."

Alex looked back at him, and gave one defiant step forward, as he said. "And I hope you enjoy feeling 1200 electric volts passing through your body."

The wolf chuckled at this, and he said, "What, do you have a Taser in you? I'd like to see-"

But the wolf never finished that sentence, for in that moment, the cougar raised his paw, and a bolt of lightning parted from his palm, and hit the wolf into the chest.

The wolf was hurled backward, and landed heavily into the ground. He twitched into the ground as electricity ran into his body, and soon after, he lost his consciousness.

All the mammals around gasped when they saw that. The criminals, the hostages, and Nick and Judy.

That cougar had just... shoot a lightning!?

Alex still held his paw outstretched, small cracks of lightning jumping between his fingers, as everyone looked at him with the most absolute shock.

"What the hell!?" The lion cried out, and Alex, with a firm and determined expression on his face, said:

"I AM a Taser!"

Alex didn't even waited to see the reaction of the burglars or of anyone else, as he turned around and immediately pointed his paw at another of the thugs with guns. Another lightning jumped out of his paw and hit the thug right into the stomach, hurling him backwards as he yelped loudly and lost consciousness right before he hit the ground.

Next Alex raised his other paw, and he now shot a lightning from each one of them, hitting two of the wolves and making them drop to the ground as they yelped and the electrical power ran across their bodies.

"What the hell!?" Someone screamed, Alex didn't saw who it was, and at the give moment, he didn't worried about that. All he had in his mind was taking out these thugs as fast as possible, as he continued to launch arcs of lightning from his paws into the wolves, taking two at a time.

"Oh my God! OH MY GOD! Nick, are you seeing this!?" Judy nearly shrieked, and Nick didn't answered, he was too busy looking completely baffled at the scene going on before him.

The elephant was one of the first ones to recover, and he said, "Take him down..." He turned to the other wolves, and he said, "Someone take him down!"

The wolves looked at him, and the first one to act was the one with the net launcher, who pointed the thing at Alex, and pulled the trigger.

Alex barely had time to react as he simply looked back and saw that net coming in his direction.

He was hit square on, and went into the ground as the net tangled over him.

He grunted and struggled to rip it with his claws, but the net was too strong.

Around him, the time seemed to have stopped, as all the animals around were still trying to register what had just happened. As they did, however, Alex too stopped, and he calmed down enough.

Soon, electricity started to crack over his body, and soon, the net burst open, with him getting free.

The animals all cried out in surprise, and the wolf was fast into shooting another net into the cougar. However, Alex was ready this time, and using both of his paws, he shoot a focused lightning ahead of him, that hit the net and spread into it, burning the rope of the net and making it be burn clear in half, and pass by the cougar without any effects.

Alex immediately shoot another lightning into the wolf, this one more charged, and making the wolf shot into the air for eight feet and land heavily into the ground, with the net launcher landing a few feet away from him.

Many now were looking mesmerized to the scene happening before them, many without knowing what to say or to do with that situation. Some knew, however, the ones who still didn't had their carrot phones taken now had activated their cameras and were pointing them at the cougar, recording the action.

The other wolf, who was holding onto Nick and Judy into the net, looked at the cougar, as the big cat looked at him, and after a while, he simply raised a paw into the wolf, and he cried out and said.

"Y-you didn't said anything about cougars who shoot lightnings! I'm outta here!" He said, dropping Judy and Nick and his weapon into the ground as he turned to run to the exit.

"K-k-kill him!" The elephant cried out, and he turned to the wolves into the footbridges "Someone kill him!"

The wolves took a moment to react, and this moment as all that Alex actually needed. He turned his attention to the wolves into one of the footbridges, and he put both of his paws together, creating what seemed to be a ball of the purest electric force between them, and he put his paws outward. In this moment, the electricity that was gathering into his paws blasted forward into a wide area, with small lightnings washing all over that footbridge.

All the wolves in there didn't even had time to react as they all were shocked by that electric onslaught, and they all dropped unconscious after a few moments.

As that was done, Alex turned his attention back to the other footbridge, but the wolves had already recovered, and one of them cried out as he pointed a gun to Alex and started to shot.

* * *

Outside, Bogo and Razorback were both planning their next move, when their attention was called by another member of the SWAT.

"Sires! There is someone coming out!" He pointed at the entrance, and they were able to see an unarmed wolf bursting through the doors, running and looking scared out of his mind. He was immediately surrounded by members of the Swat, and he had his paws raised high into the air, saying.

"I surrender! I surrender! Please, take me to a safe prison cell!"

"What is that now?" Razorback said as they looked at the wolf, and as they approached, they heard gunshots being fired inside of the mall.

Everyone flinched as they all heard it, and they looked in horror at the mall, wondering just what was happening in there...

* * *

In the moment Alex saw these weapons pointed at him, he immediately sprint into running, the adrenaline making effect and making him run faster than he thought it would be possible for him.

He could hear the weapons firing, and he could hear the sounds that the bullets made when they hit the stone floor.

Fortunately, Alex was far from the hostages and the weapons were firing only at him, so the hostages were not in immediate risk of being hit by stray bullets. However, since the bullets were pointed only at him, Alex was in the middle of the fire, what meant a lot of trouble for him.

He had to run as fast as his legs could carry him (which was much) and he was able to jump behind a column and find shelter from the rain of bullets behind it. Alex breathed heavily as the adrenaline was making it hard for him to focus.

After a few moments, the shots stopped, and Alex ventured to peek his head from behind the column, only for the bullets to start again, and forcing him to duck behind the column once more to avoid being shoot.

Up into the footbridge, the wolves were still aiming into the column the wolf was hiding behind, and they talked among themselves.

"You saw that!? The cougar shoots lightning from his paws!"

"No one said anything about that!"

"Who is he!?"

"WHAT is he!?"

Back into the ground, Judy and Nick were once again struggling into the net, and after a while, without anyone to hold them, they were actually able to escape from that by working together. They were panting as they came out of the net, and no one seemed to notice them, for they were too focused into the pillar the cougar was hiding behind, and so were our two officers.

"Okay... I think that we really saw what we just saw..." Nick said, still trying to convince himself that he had really seem a cougar blasting some criminals with lightning from his paws. He had already seem a lot of things. Strange things. Bad things. But he never saw anything like what that cougar did.

Judy barely heard him, as she was looking at the criminals with guns, they were still pointing at the cougar, but she knew that it could be a matter of seconds before they decided to turn these weapons back at the hostages and start to fire.

Independent of what had just happened, she knew that she could try to wrap her mind around it later, now they had a job to do by protecting these poor mammals.

Looking around, Judy only took a few moments to locate both her and Nick's dart guns...

Alex took deep breaths as he tried to rationalize what to do next. Well, one thing was for certain, while the wolves were pointing these guns at him (he could not believe that he was thinking it in a serious way) from the above footbridge, he would be a sitting duck. Alex had to reach them and fight them at the same level.

And he knew how.

Raising his paws, Alex started to focus, and they started to grackle with small lightnings jumping in between them and from one point to another of the hands themselves. As he did, the same thing started to happen with his feet, which crackled with electricity, and once they were charged enough, Alex took a deep breath, and he rushed to away from behind the column.

Alex didn't even stopped to think, as the wolves all aimed their guns at him again, ready to shot him dead. However, Alex was quicker, and he took them by surprise. As he ran in their direction, he pointed both of his paws to the ground, and arcs of lightning came from them into the ground, and so they did from his feet, as Alex jumped.

He jumped much more than it would be expected from an animal his size, being able to easily cover the distance between the first and second stores of the mall, and in direction to the footbridge.

The wolves were taken back when they saw the cougar giving a leap like that, especially the one that was right into Alex's path.

The cougar arrived into the footbridge with a kick right into the wolf's face, sending him to the ground, and next, he looked at the side and shot a lightning into the next wolf, which yelped loudly and trembled as he fell to the ground. Another wolf cried out as he came rushing to Alex, with the AK47 raised and ready to use it as a club.

But the cougar was faster than him, Alex grabbed the weapon and quickly spun, putting it into the neck of the wolf as he held him from behind. Alex heard a weapon begin triggered behind him, and he immediately spun around, forcing the wolf to the ground while he shoot one more lightning into the left wolf, which was ready to shoot him down.

This wolf howled in pain as he went to the ground, his finger pressing the trigger of the gun, and it started to fire, luckily, it was pointed up, and no one was hit. The two wolves Alex kicked and sent to the ground were getting up, and Alex was faster. He grabbed the weapon that the wolf dropped and hit him in the temple with it, knocking him out cold.

As the other wolf was getting up, Alex approached him, creating sparks of lightning into his fingers, and he reached out for the wolf's stomach, and the small lightnings connected with the canine's belly. The wolf howled loudly, and he immediately went to the ground, trembling, as he had already lost consciousness.

Alex didn't even had time to think on his victory, as more shoots were made at him, and he had to quickly dive into the ground to avoid the bullets. Now the wolves into the lower level were shooting at the footbridge, trying to hit the cougar.

There were only four wolves and more the lion left, and they were all pointing their weapons at the cougar, ready to when he got up. "Be ready to shoot!" The lion said to the wolves, "Take that freak down!"

He was keeping his eyes into the footbridge, so he didn't saw when two of the wolves were hit into the neck by darts. He only heard them yelping, before turning and looking them falling into the ground, knocking out cold.

"Wha!?" The lion said, and looked over, to see Judy and Nick with their dart guns pointed at them.

_Thank God for the fast acting tranquilizers_. Nick thought as he saw these two wolves coming down.

"Why you!" The lion said, pointing the weapon at them and firing. The bunny and fox both dodge the attack by very little, hiding behind a column, as they both breathed, their weapons still in their paws and ready to take action.

Once Alex noticed that the guns were still being fired, but that the bullets seemed not to be directed at him anymore, he dared to look down, he saw the lion unloading all of his gun into a column, and the two wolves also had their weapons pointed at that area. He looked, and he saw a small grey head poking from behind the column.

The bunny officer.

Alex looked back at the lion, who had stopped to reload his weapon, and he saw in there his chance.

Getting up, Alex raised both of his paws and projected them in direction to the area in which the lion and wolves all were. Alex was just glad that they were far from the hostages. In that moment, several small lightnings jumped from both of his paws, and they stared to strike randomly into the area.

The lion and two wolves got all startled back by that, and they dropped their weapons in surprise as they tried to dodge the small lightnings that washed over the area.

As soon as they dropped their weapons, Alex took some impulse and jumped out of the footbridge, in direction to the ground. At this moment, he pointed both his feet and his paws to the ground, and thin arcs of lightning jumped from them into the ground.

The animals all watched in awe as the cougar fell slowly in direction to the ground, almost as if he was a balloon, with lightnings connecting his paws and feet to the floor.

Alex landed gently, and he looked at the two wolves that were on the ground. They both had darts on their necks, and Alex craned his head slightly at this.

_Darts?_

Alex turned his head to see the two officers poking their heads from behind the column, and they were both holding their weapons.

_These are dart guns?_

Alex didn't had much time to ponder over it, as his ears picked movement, and he turned his head back at the lion, whom as the closest animal to him. The lion stopped dead on his tracks as the cougar had his eyes on him.

The lion was clearly bigger than him, and he would surely have advantage into a one-to-one fight. However, after what he had just witnessed the cougar do, he was not in the mood to go into a direct combat with him.

Alex noticed it by the look of fear in the lion's eyes, and he walked calmly in his direction. The lion stumbled back, and pulled a revolver from his waist, aiming it at the cougar.

"S-Stop! S-stay back! Stay away from me, you monster!"

Alex flinched as he was called that. There were many insults that he could take standing, but that was not one of them, not coming from that guy.

"Monster?" Alex said, looking at the lion, and giving one more step forward, to which the lion answered by stepping backwards.

"I am the monster?" Alex said.

"Stay back..." The lion said, his paw shaking as he pointed his gun to the cougar.

"Now that is just funny..." Alex said, but his face said that he did not think it to be funny in the slightest. "You enter into a mall armed, with a lot of guys, and take a lot of innocent people as hostages. You point guns at innocent people, including women and children, and you hold them all to prevent yourself from being caught by the police. All of that because you came here to gain some money in expense of a beneficent cause."

"S-stay away from me!" The lion said, still pointing his gun at the cougar. "I'll blow up your brains! I swear to God!"

"You do all of that..." Alex said, he continued to look at the lion, and as he did, his eyes started to glow. "And you have the guts to call _me_ a monster?"

Despite his glowing eyes, the expression of almost hate that was in Alex face would be enough to make many animals be scared, including that lion. He was about to say something else, when he suddenly gasped, and grabbed his arm.

After a few moments, he dropped to the ground. Alex looked over and he saw a dart sticking out of his arm.

Alex blinked at it, he looked over, to see the fox officer, Nick Wilde, pointing a dart gun, and he slowly lowered it, as he looked at the cougar. But Alex didn't had time to give a good look in the expression of the fox's face, for immediately, he heard booming steps, and he instinctively jumped out of the way, just as the elephant tried to hit him with his paw.

"You freak!" He cried out, blind by rage, as days of careful planning had been blow away in mere seconds by that cougar.

Alex saw the mad look in his face, and he knew that he was in trouble. He dodged the next blows that the elephant tried to land on him. Alex knew that with the size and strength of that elephant, a single blow would be enough to send him to a hospital for weeks. He had to be careful as he dodged all of the attacks.

As Alex dodged, he shoot an arc of lightning into the elephant's chest. The pachyderm cried out, but he didn't dropped. He only continued to attack the cougar with renewed vigor.

Alex dodged and walked back, as he tried to open distance from the elephant, as he continued to shoot lightnings into the elephant. In his chest, neck, legs, stomach. But it seemed that they caused only a minor shock into the elephant, who cried out in surprise or stopped for a few moments, breathing heavily, only to go back into charging at the cougar.

Alex was baffled at how much resilience that elephant had, only to remember himself that it was an elephant. Up until now, he had been using the amount of electricity that he got used to apply when dealing with humans, and it worked into the wolves, once they were around the same size (Alex supposed). This elephant, however, was much bigger and tougher, which meant that it would take a much stronger shock to take him down.

And take him down Alex needed, and before that elephant managed to crush his skull like it was a grape.

With a great surge of force, Alex shot another lightning right into the elephant's chest, causing him to gasp and to put both paws and trunk to it, as if he was in pain. Alex walked back from him as the elephant breathed heavily, trying to recover his breathing, as Alex looked at him.

Taking a deep breath, Alex closed his eyes, and in a few seconds, there was lightnings traveling up and down both of his furred arms. With some of the lightnings traveling to the ground. As he focused, the elephant recovered, and turned to him, before letting out a loud cry as he charged head on into the cougar, ready to maul him over.

Everyone looked in horror as the elephant ran in direction to the cougar. However, as the elephant approached, Alex opened his eyes, which were glowing, and letting out small lightnings. As the elephant ran in his direction, Alex let out a feral scream, lightning jumping out from his open mouth, as both his paws generated lightning, and it converged together to create one big lightning, which hit the elephant right into the chest.

The elephant made no sound, and it only lasted for one second, but right as the lightning hit him, the elephant suddenly was propelled from the ground upwards. He continued moving from the charge, but he passed by Alex, right over his head, before landed heavily into his back, in the ground.

Alex let out a huge breath, as he placed both hands into his knees to support himself. He had used enough electricity to completely carbonize a regular human, and he wasn't used to using so much.

Looking over his shoulder, he saw the fallen elephant, who was groaning slightly, as his body twitched, small cracks of electricity still running into his body, especially in between his engorged tusks. Alex only looked at him for a moment, before the sound of weapons being triggered called his attention.

He looked over to see the two left wolves had retrieved their weapons, and they were pointing them at Alex. However, the cougar noticed that they didn't seemed as confident as they had first been when they entered the mall. Actually, they looked very much scared, as it was easy to see by their trembling paws holding onto the weapons.

Confident, Alex walked in their direction, his arms put into the sides of his body, and his paws turned to the ground. As he walked in their direction, his paws emitted small lightnings, which connected with the ground.

The wolves trembled more and more as the cougar approached them, and when Alex was close, he raised both of his paws, and they generated each one a spherical lightning in the palm.

"Boo!" Alex said to them, and the wolves immediately yelped as they dropped their weapons and covered their heads with their arms.

Alex looked at them, and he dropped his paws, the lightning into them going out. Now, he took a look around, at the hostages.

There were several animals of all kinds in there, big and small, all of them looking at him with baffled expressions. Some were holding up cell phones and tablets at him, recording his moves.

Alex looked at all of them, and there was a moment in which he crossed eyes with the lioness and her cub. By their side, it was Gazelle and the two tiger bodyguards. They all looked at him with an expression that was very hard to decipher. But the wide eyes were telling Alex enough.

For a moment, Alex thought if he should go to there and try to say something, but right in that moment, the lioness cried: "Look out!"

Right after, Alex noticed a shadow befalling him, and he looked over to see the elephant towering over him, his arms raised as if he was ready to crush the cougar to death. However, this blow didn't came to happen, for in this moment, the elephant suddenly gasped, and soon, his arms were falling limp to the sides of his body.

Right after, he crumbled into the ground, unconscious, and Alex saw that he had a lot of darts in his big backside.

Alex blinked at it, and he said, "Seriously?" And he looked over, to see the two approaching cops with their dart guns. They were not aimed at him; however, they were aimed at the elephant, something that Alex actually felt relieved and thankful for. Still the eyes of the two officers were on the cougar, and they looked at him as if they had never seen anything like him before.

In fact, everyone was still looking at the cougar, and Alex was looking at everyone, so, no one noticed that the wolves were gone...

* * *

The black sheep was still waiting in the outside with the white van, into the back of the mall. He was there to wait for boss to come.

That was his part of the plan, to drive boss away, along with the lion and a few more wolves into his van. It was big enough to fit the elephant and the others somewhat snuggly, while the rest of them would go away from the mall with their own vehicles, which they had left into the parking lot of the mall in the previous night.

They would regroup into the meeting point and they would all share the money.

He just needed to wait...

Suddenly, the doors on the back of the van opened. "So, boss, how was..." The lamb started to say as he turned around, but he was surprised for only seeing two wolves come in, instead of his boss.

"Drive!" One of the wolves said as they slammed the doors.

"Hey, wait! Where is boss?"

"Drive now! Before he comes after us!" Another wolf said, sounding completely terrified, and the lamb only looked at him.

"Wha... who?"

"The cougar!"

"What cougar?" The lamb said, looking back at the door of the mall, as if their boss was going to pass by there at any moment with the rest of the guys. "What happened in there?"

His answer was one of the wolves grabbing him by the fur around his neck, and yanking him hard, forcing the lamb to look into his face, as he screamed.

"Just shut up and drive!"

Soon, the engine was started, and the white van started to drive away from the mall.

* * *

Outside of the mall, into the entrance, all the members of the SWAT and Bogo were all looking, as they had heard the gunshots coming from the inside. It almost sounded as if there was a war in there.

Then, there was that silence, heavy and full of omens, and none of them looked to be good.

The wolf they had taken in after he got out of the mall was just screaming out incoherencies about a cougar and lightnings.

Well, they sounded like incoherencies to everyone else, but Bogo knew better. He had seem the recordings, and he knew that there was more to that cougar than the eye met, and he knew that the words of the wolf actually had a meaning.

After a while, Bogo decided that it was enough of waiting.

"Razorback." He said, making the boar look to him, as he said, "Gather your men, we are going in."

* * *

Alex felt very uneasy with all of these eyes on him. He wasn't really keen on having this much attention on himself, for the times that he had it, it never was so good to him.

Still, the expression on their faces as they all continued to look at him was not exactly the kind that made him feel too much worried. But it was still not the kind that told him that he could actually relax.

They continued to look at him, all of them with their eyes widen and their mouths slightly open, looking at him as if he was some strange being from another world (well... Alex **was** from another world, but you got the point).

"Well... I guess these guys who came to rob the mall got a little shocked, right?" Alex said, trying to break the tension with a little of humor, but it seemed that it didn't had very much effect.

Sighing, the cougar looked at the unconscious elephant, and he noticed something into his waist. It seemed a cloth bag.

Looking at it, Alex, picked it up, and he opened it, to find some expensive jewelry inside of it. It took only a second for him to remember where it came from.

Looking over at Gazelle, the cougar walked to her, and once he was at a close range, he handled the back to her, saying, "I think this belongs to you."

She looked at the bag, and back at him, before she slowly moved her paw to grab it, saying, "T-thank you."

Alex nodded, and he looked down, at the young lion who was looking up at him. Alex smiled at the cub, and he said, "Hey there."

There was no time for the cub to answer, for immediately, someone burst through the doors of the mall. Everyone's attention was called at the entrance, as animals in uniform passed by there, all with weapons.

"SWAT! Don't move!"

The voice came from one of the animals, and the other ones looked at them as they advanced into the area, surrounding those fallen animals, and checking on them, making sure that they were all alive.

"Clear!" They said each time that they checked onto each of the animals, and they continued to cover the area of the mall. They stopped by the two officers.

"Officer Judy Hopps, and Nick Wilde, ZPD!" Judy said, as the animals came near them and checked their badges, moving ahead as they checked on them, and soon, they were putting their eyes on the cougar that they had the description.

"Alex Hunter!" One of them said, pointing the weapon at Alex, the laser aim making a red dot on his shirt. "Paws on your head, you are under arrest."

This surprised all of the animals around, including Alex himself.

They were really arresting him?

As more animals approached, they all pointed their weapons to Alex's making several dots into his body as they all aimed their lasers into him.

As they did, Bogo and Razorback both walked in, and they were able to see the cougar being aimed by the SWAT, and Razorback said, "Yeah, looks like we found your cougar."

As they talked, the SWAT said, "Alex Hunter, move away from these mammals, kneel on the ground, and put your paws in your head."

The tune they used as almost as if he was one criminal. This was really making Alex nervous, as he could only think that, even after he saved people from criminals, they were still threating him as a monster. Just as it happened for a long time back in his home.

Alex started to sweat slightly, and his breathing quickened. However, the most distinguishing feature of his nervousness were the small lightnings cracking up and down into his arms, and some of it actually travelling into the ground.

Alex was not going to simply sit and let them arrest him to do whatever they wanted to him. He would not let they do it! Not again! He was going to fight for himself if he needed!

That was the thought on his head as his eyes started to glow.

The animals gave a few steps back, and the members of the SWAT had their eyes widen as they saw the lightnings travelling up and down the arms of the cougar.

"What the hell?" Razorback said as he watched that display, but Bogo wasn't so impressed.

The members of the SWAT continued to point their weapons at Alex, and they seemed ready to shot, when the small lion cub rushed, and stood in between the cougar and the members of the SWAT, with his arms raised, as if he was shielding him from them.

Both SWATs and cougar looked surprised at the small cub, who was in there, protecting the cougar from them. Alex, surprised by this, stopped emitting small lightning bolts from his arms, and he continued to look at the young cub, who was actually standing by him. And he wasn't the only one.

After a few moments, the mother of the young lion came, and she picked up her son. However, instead of moving out of the way, she stood in front of the cougar, blocking the aim of the SWAT from him.

Soon, Gazelle herself stepped forward, and she too stood in between them.

"Oh, what now?" Asked Razorback as he and Bogo watched that scene.

"Move out of the way! This cougar is dangerous!" The SWAT said, but the two females continued to stand in the way. Alex looked at them as they were standing for him.

Well, it was understandable, once he had just saved them all, and stood for them when they needed. Still, it was very rare for Alex that someone stood for him like that. It somehow made the cougar have a little more faith into the world, and so, that was enough for him to make a decision of what to do.

Placing one paw in the shoulders of Gazelle and the lioness, he looked into their eyes, and gently moved them out of the way. They even tried to protest, but one single look of the cougar's eyes was enough to silence them, and to make them understand that he was going to do what he needed to do.

Alex walked in direction to the SWAT, and they moved around him, surrounding him as they continued to keep their weapons pointed at him. Once Alex was completely surrounded, he took in a deep breath, and he knelt into the ground slowly, and slowly moved his paws, placing them on the back of his head, with his fingers intertwined.

The SWAT slowly approached him, ready in the case of the cougar making any sudden moves, and Bogo and Razorback watched it from behind, and Razorback said, "Bogo, I think you might want to give me some explaining."

Bogo looked at him, and another voice called his attention. "Chief?" He looked over, seeing Wilde and Hopps, both looking up at him, "Mind if we have a little talk?"

Bogo looked at them, and back at Razorback, with all of them looking at him, and wanting answers, and Bogo knew that he would have to give them after what had happened. To them, at least. Bogo sighed, and he looked at the animals around, many of which had their carrot phones and tablets still recording what was going on, and he said, "We will have to apprehend all of the cell phones and tablets in here."

Alex continued on his knees, as the SWAT team all surrounded him. He still wasn't sure if that was a smart decision, but Alex knew that now it was his reality.

He was into a new world, with a new form, but he still had his powers, and now everyone knew about them.

Well... whatever was going to happen from that point on, it was really hard for Alex to tell...


	6. Interrogatory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After having stopped the criminals of the mall and revealing his powers to everyone in there, Alx finds himself into a predicment that is very similar to things that already happened in his past, and make him reminisce about it and about his won world, and about all that happened before he went to Zootopia. Soon, Alex is brought to another room, where he has an interesting talk with a certain buffalo police chief...  
> After said talk,. Chief Bogo sees himself having to deal with all the repercussions of the events of the mall, from videos into the internet to questions from his colleagues and subordinates.  
> While he deals with it, something is happening into another part of the city. This story isn`t over it, as it has barely even began...

The next one and a half hour passed rather quickly in Alex point of view, as he saw himself being paw-cuffed, with his paws behind his back, and escorted to the van of the SWAT, and he was put in there, with two armed animals to watch over him, at a buff buffalo request.

Alex remembered that a few animals around the crowd were protesting about it.

"Why are you arresting him!? He is a hero!"

"The cougar did nothing wrong!"

"He saved us all! You can't do this!"

However, most of the members of the crowd remained silent, only watching as Alex was taken into custody.

Alex remembered that during the trip, these two guards were keeping a watching eye on him. But Alex barely even minded them, as he was far too busy wondering what was going to happen to him now, that he had revealed his true nature as an evo.

Alex imagined that now there was going to have a huge repercussion about it, as it happened when that girl jumped from the Ferris wheel at that carnival and regenerated in front of all of the reporters, revealing to the whole world the existence of the evolved humans, who were later named as "evos".

Alex remembered that the following years were a mess, and he was part of it. First there was the act of forcing evos to register, and a lot of anti-evo protests all around the world, including into his own home. These were years in which Alex had to be really careful, and when occurred the summit bombing, in June 13th, and the subsequent broadcast that happened, and the coming of the Renautas, Alex had to be triple careful.

He remembered that during that time he spent nights awake, afraid that at any moment these guys were going to break into his house and take him as prisoner to "god-knew-where" and do several things to him. Alex remembered that these were hard times, and they lasted for almost three years, right before the Renautas were exposed as the true culprits, and their whole scam was exposed to the world by Micah Sanders.

Right after these twins saved the world from that "HELE" thing, things at least started to get better, with evos slowly starting to be accepted and to take back their place into the world, living alongside humans. Of course, the process was very slow, and it took around one year after that for Alex finally to feel safe enough to don't afraid of using his abilities out of the sanctuary of his own home.

Still, Alex was still having recurrent nightmares of another guy who would find a way to make people turn against evos, or who would chase them to kill then, or that would otherwise want to use them as tolls for its own devices. For what Alex knew, there were plenty of people like that out there, and the fear of these situations repeating themselves with him, or with any of his friends, was something that always scared Alex.

And right now, it seemed that it was happening.

Alex had just stopped armed and dangerous criminals from committing a crime and hurting innocents, and there he was, being arrested and watched as if he was a criminal himself.

Sure, they were not threating him as if he was a monster, not yet, at least, but this did not diminished Alex feeling that he was being arrested because of his powers, and of his condition as an evo. He knew that he was probably into a very hard situation, and he had a feeling that he could not expect for a Petrelli Movement to come into his help.

Alex imagined that, in this moment, he was alone, and he was now questioning himself if he had taken the right choice into surrendering like that. However, he soon convinced himself that, if he had fought them, then it would have been worse, for he would fight the authorities and he would paint his own image as a criminal.

This way, he was showing them that he was not evil, and that he was going to cooperate, and that he didn't wanted any trouble. The fact that he had just helped to catch those criminals, who were all arrested too, probably was going to help it, and Alex had a feeling of that because some of the animals actually had stood for him and they actually protested as he was taken. That made Alex feel that maybe, just maybe, things were going to be better in this world, even after he revealed himself as an evo.

Still, the thousands of worries crept into his mind as he reminded himself to even before the great revelation of the evos to the world, as the people who knew it, and who had all kinds of intentions with him, from testing him to simply eliminating him, had chased him down in the past. After the much that he had passed, he was not the kind of guy who would simply lower his guard in a moment like that.

His mind was kept into the edge as he was guided inside that windowless van to an unknown destination. His mind was only snapped back to reality as the van stopped, and the doors were opened.

Soon, Alex was being escorted to out of the van, and in direction to a great building, which had the sayings " **Zootopia Police Department** " in the front. As Alex walked inside, he made his best to remain calm and composed as he was guided inside by six members of the SWAT, but deep inside, he was very nervous. He was escorted pass more animals, both civil and wearing police uniforms, and many of them were gathered, looking at cell phones or tablets, and they looked as the members of the SWAT walked inside, and some of them had wide eyes as they looked at the cougar being escorted by the members of the SWAT. Alex, however, paid them very little attention.

He focused only into the path that the SWAT was taking him, which led to a dark hallway, and they stopped in front of a door in the wall. Alex also stopped, and he turned around to look at another animal who was coming in his direction, and it was a pig of some short. A boar, actually, with a scar over his right eye, which was milky and blind.

For a moment, Alex and the boar both looked at each other, before Alex was turned around and had his back at the boar. Alex suddenly felt his wrists going free as the cuffs were released.

Alex was surprised at this, and he looked at the boar, massaging his wrists. The boar himself seemed hard to read as he simply looked at Alex as if he was any other animal, but Alex noticed that the guards all around seemed to be holding their own weapons harder, as if they were ready to act if the cougar decided to try anything.

The boar simply opened the door, and gestured calmly for Alex to enter.

Alex looked at him for a few moments, before he started to comply, and he entered the room. He saw himself into a grey room, illuminated by a lamp into the ceiling, and in the middle of it, there was a metal table, with one chair in each end. One wall of the room had a big mirror.

It was an interrogation room.

Alex looked at the boar, who gave him a look and a shrug, before he closed the door without any other word, leaving the cougar alone. Alex heard the distinct sound of the door being locked, signaling to him that he was stuck in there.

After that, Alex decided to go to the table and sit in there, and he waited, as he looked at the mirror in the wall. Alex knew that it was a double-sided mirror, and that there was someone in the opposite room watching him now. He didn't even needed to have watched many police programs to know that, and to know that there WAS someone on the other side, looking at him in that same moment, and that they were going to watch him very intently as he was interrogated.

Alex spent a good deal of time in there, before he finally heard the door being unlocked, bringing him back from his reflection of the past, as he saw a familiar buffalo walking into the room, with something under his arm.

The buffalo locked eyes with him, and his expression was hard to read, but as far as Alex could see, the buffalo had no fear, hate, or despise towards him. This made him somewhat calmer, but still, Alex remembered himself that he was still there as a prisoner, for all that it seemed, and he had the feeling that the buffalo was going to be careful with him.

The buffalo closed the door behind himself, and he calmly walked in direction to the table, sitting with his back turned to the mirror and facing Alex. The buffalo placed what he had been carrying under his arm into the table, and Alex could see that it was a box.

Next, there was a long silence between the two of them as the buffalo simply looked at him, and Alex looked back.

After a few minutes, Alex got tired of that, and he said: "Look, I already know the trick of using silence treatment to make a suspect talk."

"Then why you spoke?" The buffalo asked, somewhat matter-of-factly. He was testing him. Alex knew it, and he was not going to bite any kind of trap that the buffalo could let to him.

"Look, I already know all of these tricks you make in these places, silence treatment, 'good cop, bad cop', reverse psychology, all of them." Alex said, and he added, "So, can we please cut out the games and all of the crap and go to what really matters?"

The buffalo looked at him, and he let out a sigh, and he said, "Well, I guess there must be a few reasons why you are here." The buffalo said, and he looked at Alex, as he added, "Starting with aggression to a law officer."

"Detective Wilde." Alex said, knowing exactly where the buffalo wanted to get. The buffalo nodded at him, and he said:

"Yes, the fact that you attacked a law officer is by itself a problem." He spoke, "However, this is engraved by the fact that you attacked him with lethal force."

Alex remained silent, as he simply looked at him. "Yes, I imagine so… but I did really used lethal force in your officer."

The buffalo looked at him, and he said, "What happened into that street was recorded by a traffic cam. I saw exactly what you did to my officer."

Alex knew what he meant, and now, Alex cursed himself for not having seem any cameras around that could get what he did on tape…

* * *

On the other side of the double-sided glass, Judy, Nick, and Razorback were all looking at the cougar, all of them wondering just what was about him.

They were still all trying to process what they could see that the cougar was able to do, and they all were still trying to get a grip on it. Judy and Nick were still trying to understand how it was possible that they had seem a cougar firing arcs of lightning from his bare paws. Razorback, on his end, was still trying to understand what he had saw when they apprehended the cougar, as well as what he had been told by these two little officers and at least more fifty eye-witnesses, all claiming that the cougar had superpowers.

Of course, it didn't helped that, all the while, Bogo seemed to be avoiding to give to them any kind of direct answer, and he only answered their questions with brief things, that didn't really explained anything. Also, the buffalo had, in the past one and a half hour, made a lot of calls from his cell phone to someone, and these conversations seemed to be long and serious, by the expression on the buffalo's face as he made them.

Of course, they weren't able to hear what the calls were about, not even Judy, with her keen hearing, once Bogo made sure to stay out of their hearing shot every time that he made these calls. But, whoever he was talking with in them, it seemed that it was a subject that only he and the person on the other end should know about.

Matter of fact, Bogo had just made one more of these calls with the mysterious person on the other end of the line before going there to talk with the cougar. Bogo made question of this, and he made it completely clear that no one but him should interrogate the cougar, not even Nick and Judy.

Still, they were all allowed to watch the interrogation from the other room, what they were all doing now. Judy and Nick were standing into a chair, so their eyes were on the same level of the glass. Razorback was just standing into here, with a tablet in his hands. Bogo had gave it to him, and it had some "delicate subject footage", which Razorback could see to "put himself in pair of the whole situation", as Bogo himself had put it.

They were watching the discussion that Bogo was having with the cougar, about what he did to Nick.

"I didn't wanted to hurt your cop." The cougar said, and Bogo answered back:

"Still, the footage is very clear on what you did to him."

As Bogo spoke that, Razorback turned his attention back to the tablet, and he pressed the play. The footage they were talking about was one that showed the cougar chained to a bench by a pair of cuffs, and Officer Wilde with his back turned to him, talking into his radio. Suddenly, the cougar looked to one side and then the other, before turning his head back to the small officer.

The cougar then stretched his arm and paw, and then, a small arc of lightning jumped from his paw right into the fox, making him convulse and drop to the ground, twitching slightly.

The boar snorted. It didn't matter how many times he saw that footage, he was still having troubles to believe what he had just seem. If he had saw it earlier this morning, he would have thought that it was some kind of computer-made animation. He only continued to look at it, as the cougar next outstretched his open paw to the fallen officer, and soon, the fox was dragged to him, as if he was pulled by some invisible force.

"So, you shoot a lightning into one of my officers, and you claim that you didn't wanted to hurt him?" Bogo said, and Razorback returned to look at him, knowing that form that point on, the footage only showed the cougar picking up the keys from the cuffs, un-cuffing himself and cuffing Officer Wilde to the bench. What was happening on the other room was, for sure, a much more interesting subject.

The cougar looked back at Bogo, and he said, "I really didn't."

"And I should believe you why…" Bogo said, and Alex, looking into his eyes, said:

"Because I could have killed him if I wanted."

This made both Nick and Judy have the feeling of their blood running cold, as the cougar was not saying this the way a criminal would say, but instead, he was saying that as if he was simply stating a fact. It was hard to say what kind of expression Bogo was looking at him, but all the three animals imagined that it was something somewhat serious.

The cougar let out a long sigh. "Look, you probably know that I knocked out an elephant with a lightning, so , you must know that I can make a lot of energy when I do this." The cougar said, and he raised his paw, and then, small lightnings jumped in between his fingers, before they condensed into a ball of the purest electric force.

It only lasted for a few moments, before the cougar put it out and lowered his paw once more. He continued to speak: "I made completely sure to use a very low voltage into your fox officer, and I made sure to see if he was okay later. If I wanted, I could have left him crispier than a cicada chip."

Both Nick and Judy shuttered at the analogy that the cougar was making. Nick's paw moved to scratch the place in his back where there was the mark left by the cougar. Knowing that it had come from such a source, and that it could have actually killed him if the cougar wanted, it was something that scared the fox.

"You speak like you know a lot about killing animals…" Bogo said, and the cougar simply looked back at him, with an unmoved expression, and he said:

"I understand of electricity."

He took a more comfortable position, as he continued. "When you shot lightning from your… paws, it is the kind of thing that you have to understand about, so you don't end up killing other people by accident. Yes, I understand a lot about electricity and its mechanics, I learned since I was small, since my powers first appeared."

The cougar continued to explain, while everyone watched his explanation. "I learned that what is really deadly about electricity isn't the voltage, but the current. Hit an elephant in the torso with 10000 volts and you will wound it, but hit it with 10 amperes right through the heart, and you will kill it."

"Your fox officer was really small, so I used very low voltage and current at him, I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't cause any serious harm to him." The cougar said, and he laid back into the chair, his arms crossed over his chest. The animals watching the scene by the double-sided mirror looking at the scene, and wondering what was going to happen next, and just how Bogo was going to answer to the commentaries that the cougar was making. They could already notice that the cougar looked as if he really knew what he was talking about.

It took a few moments, before the buffalo let out a sigh, and he continued.

"There is also the fact that you broke free from the hospital against the recommendations of doctor Moosard." The buffalo continued, and the cougar looked at him.

"You mean, the moose who wanted to lock me up as if I was a lunatic?" The cougar said, and the buffalo looked up at him.

"Why you think he wanted?"

"Because I already received many looks like the one he and that nurse gave me. I know when someone thinks I'm dangerous."

"Well, considering what had happened, many would say that you ARE dangerous." Bogo said, and the cougar simply looked at him.

Bogo was testing the cougar, Razorback knew it, and he also knew that this kind of thing was the kind that you didn't did unless you were sure you had the advantage. Still, there was the fact that they all had witnessed what the cougar was capable of…

Razorback touched the tablet and he scrolled to another video, this one showed the side wall of a hospital. The same hospital from which the cougar had escaped.

The boar looked at it, and after a few seconds, small lightnings struck the ground, and soon, there was a cougar gently floating from somewhere up to the ground, with the lightnings coming out of his paws and feet, and connecting with the ground. The cougar landed gently in the ground, and looked to the sides, as if he was searching for any possible witness of what he had just done, and putting his paws on his pockets, he started to walk away very casually.

"I was under custody when I was into the hospital?" The cougar asked, and the buffalo looked up at him, and he said:

"No."

"Then I had all the right to get in or out according to my will, right?"

Bogo remained in silence for a few moments, and he said, "But the doctor had authority to determine if you were or weren't ready to get out according to his diagnosis, and you came out by a window."

"Well, the doctor might have authority into the hospital." The cougar said, "But, as a patient, I can decide either or not to follow the recommendations of the doctor, and I guess that I'm free to get out of a place by where I want, right? I haven't broken any law or rule when I got out of the hospital, and so, I guess you can't really treat me as a criminal because I have. After all, as far as I know, this is a free country."

"That cougar is really smart." Nick said to Judy, as they all continued to look at the scene.

"Maybe he is too smart…" Razorback said as he looked at the scene. The cougar was showing that he knew the rules, and that he was good in dancing with the law, up until now, he hadn't let himself feel intimidate or pressured in any way by Bogo. Razorback knew that the buffalo was a master at making others feel pressured, and that he could make some people actually start to crumble down.

However, right then, it seemed that the buffalo had found his match. It took a few moments, before the buffalo opened the box, and pulled out a few papers, one in particular, he read as he put on his glasses.

"There might be also a charge for smuggling money, as it has been said by Officer Wilde." He spoke as he read the paper, and the cougar continued to look at him, his ears perking slightly.

"I guess he got him now." Nick said, and the scene continued to unfold.

"He bumped into the other animals, and in this moment, he picked the wallet. He removed only a part of the money into the wallet, and next he returned it to the owner, making it seem as the wallet had dropped. As the unsuspecting victim walked away, the cougar followed to the next victim. He probably had a lot of victims by the time I saw him, for he should have around five hundred zoolars in his paws."

Bogo said as he read the paper, which contained Officer Wilde's testimony, and he made a pause at each period to give a look at the cougar, who was looking back at him with an unmoved expression. When he was done, he put the paper down, and looked at the cougar.

"So, anything to say about it?"

The cougar looked at him, and he leaned over, supporting himself in his elbows into the table, and he said the same thing he had said to Nick:

"Your officer could very well misinterpreted what he saw." He spoke very calmly, "He could have seem something that was in a totally different context, and he might have confounded things. You don't have any other witness that supports what he saw, and neither you have any proof that the money your officer saw in my hands… paws, wasn't really mine. You have no proof that I smuggled anything from anyone, and you can't arrest me for that."

Yeah, the cougar WAS smart, and he was showing that by being able to counter every charge that Bogo tried to land on him with great skill. That cougar really knew what he was doing, and that was for sure.

However, they all knew that Bogo had one more card up his sleeve…

* * *

Alex Hunter was showing a great deal of control in that situation, and Bogo had to admit that he was admired by how well the cougar could keep his cool and act without showing any signs that he was going to lose the battle, or his composure. However, Bogo decided to stop playing with the cougar, and go to what he had been holding into the box.

He reached out for the other papers, and spread them in front of the cougar.

Alex looked at it, and he saw that they looked like files, each one with an animal in them. One elephant. One lion. And several wolves.

Alex took only one moment to piece two and two together.

The criminals of the mall.

"Oh, so you know them?" The buffalo asked the cougar, having noticed the realization in his face, and seemingly having mistaken it be recognizance.

Alex looked up to him, a little taken back, and he looked at the files, and he said: "These… these are the animals who robbed the mall."

"You recognize them without their masks." The buffalo said, but Alex immediately said:

"I know that they were an elephant, a lion and many wolves. I'm not stupid!"

They stared at each other, for a moment, and Bogo said. "Can you give me the names of any of them?"

"How should I know that?" Alex asked, looking at the files, and taking a good look into the faces of each one of the criminals. They looked different without their masks, and Alex was pretty sure that, if he saw them again into the street, he would not have easily recognized them.

"You never saw any of them before?" Bogo asked, and Alex looked up at him.

"No." He said, surely and firm, not liking where this conversation was going.

"Not even him?" The buffalo said, pointing at the file of the elephant. Alex looked at it, as the buffalo started to say. "Alfonse Trunkemor. 36 years old. He is an elephant who got famous for practicing these kinds of robberies. He is the head of the event, and he is famous for leaving the place without any clues, and for blending into the crowd and disappearing with what he stole. Quite an impressive record, don't you agree?"

Alex looked at him, remaining in silence, and the buffalo continued: "In fact, all of his plans have the same operation: he analyses the place for a few days, makes the right preparations, and recruits a group of individuals to be his support during the robbery." The buffalo gestured to the other files, and he continued, "He recruited quite a group for this one, some street criminals with little past, two or three have a record of violence, and one was caught for smuggling vehicles. None of them actually knew each other, that's the way Trunkemor prefers, and they were all set to simply get their part of the money when the crime was done and go their own way, and they would, most likely, never see each other again."

Alex heard very carefully, and he let the buffalo talk, and after a while, the police officer continued: "They all were recruited pretty much the same way. The elephant went to some areas around the town, and talked to them, offering them a chance to make money fast and easy, and they all accepted."

The buffalo stopped, and looked at the cougar, before going straight to the point. "Did Trunkemor recruited you the same way?"

Alex muscles tensed involuntarily, and his nails came out of his fingers and scraped slightly into the metal. The buffalo surely saw it, for he had been monitoring all of the cougar's responses from the very beginning, and now, he was seeing that he clearly had hit a nerve into Alex.

"Are you implying that I had anything to do with that robbery?" Alex said it slowly, trying his best to keep his composure with the buffalo, who simply looked at him, and said:

"I don't know… You did?"

Alex knew very well when he was being tested, and that was the case. It has been the case ever since the buffalo entered the room, and Alex was doing his best to remain calm and answer, but now, the buffalo was definitely trying to make pressure on him.

"No." Alex said, and the buffalo looked at him for a while, as if he was trying to look into the cougar's eyes and inside his mind, to see if he was keeping anything a secret. After a while, it seemed that he hadn't succeeded, and so he returned to talk.

"Well, I'm sorry if I have trouble believing it." The buffalo said, and he continued, "You were in the mall just in the moment that they were robbing it, and right in the moment my two officers were hot in your pursuit." He stopped, and he looked at the cougar once more. "I'm have a close friend of mine who doesn't believe in coincidences, and I'm kind of on the same line. So, what do you say?"

Alex looked at him, and he said, "If I was with them, then why would I knock them out?" Alex was trying to rationalize with the buffalo, and he was doing his best at it. "What kind of plan would involve the one who was supposed to be helping you turning on you and attacking you with lightning, so the police could get you?"

The buffalo didn't said anything, but Alex was sure that he could agree that his way of thinking was perfectly logical, but the buffalo said. "It could be part of a complex plan."

"Oh, come on, now you're forcing it!" Alex said to him, and the buffalo looked at him, as the cougar said, "What kind of plan you make for your own associate to attack you and make you be arrested for committing a crime?"

"Maybe the idea wasn't his'." The buffalo said, and he looked at Alex dead in the eyes as he spoke. "Maybe it was _your_ idea."

Alex felt his blood running cold as he heard the accusing tune into the buffalo's voice, and the buffalo only continued. "You were there, coincidentally into the very place and moment in which there was a robbery. Then you suddenly stand up to the robbers and you save many mammals, with a lot of witnesses painting you as a hero. Maybe you even were with Trunkemor, but you betrayed him in the right moment, all so that you could be on the spotlight and pose as a great hero for everyone. Actually, seems like a pretty clever plan."

Alex felt himself getting tenser and tenser as he was companying the logic of the buffalo, and he realized that it was the kind of thing that made sense. This left him very worried, for that was just the kind of logic that the buffalo needed to have the cougar wrapped around his fingers… or claws… or hooves? Whatever, the point was that, now, the buffalo was starting to make a score, and they both knew it.

"Listen here, officer…"

"Bogo." The buffalo said, "Nathaniel Bogo."

"Officer Bogo, I-" Alex tried once more, and the buffalo interrupted him.

" _Chief_ Bogo."

 _Oh, brilliant_. Alex thought, as he realized that all this time he was talking with the Police Chief, and he knew that this animal surely had enough power and connections to put him into trouble if he wanted, especially if he wanted to sustain the version of the facts that he had just presented to Alex. Alex knew that he was in trouble.

"I didn't do anything wrong." Alex said, and the buffalo was still staring at him, and after a moment, he said, "Look I wanna believe you, but until we have all the right information, and we can say exactly what happened into that mall, you are going to stay under police custody." He said, putting all of the paper back into the box, and he seemed to be ready to leave, when he stopped, and he sighed, before looking back at the cougar, and saying:

"I have nothing against you, Mr. Hunter." He sounded sincere when he spoke that, and he continued to look at him, "Neither against the animals like you. I really hope you understand this, and understand that I'm not your enemy."

The way he spoke that, almost as if he was apologizing to Alex somehow, caught him off guard, and the buffalo left the room, leaving Alex alone with his thoughts.

True to the buffalo's words, the cougar didn't had to wait for more than five minutes, before two officers, a hippo and a rhino, arrived, and asked him to company them. This time, Alex wasn't cuffed or anything of the like, they simply asked him to come with them, and Alex complied, thinking that, if he really was into a difficult situation like that, then it was better for him to really show that he was going to cooperate, to show to them that he didn't had bad intentions.

He was companied in silence by the two bulky officers, who were very silence as they companied the cougar past the hallways and stairs, until they arrived into a section of the ZPD that had the holding cells. As they walked past it, Alex could see that there was some animals in there, mostly wolves, and also a lion. Alex was soon recognizing them.

"YOU!" A sudden cry called their attention, and Alex jumped as he heard the sound of metal being banged. He looked to see a familiar elephant pressing himself against the bars of his relatively small cell, and he had a look of the purest, murder hate towards Alex.

"You freak!" He said, as his trunk extended to out of the cell, as if trying to grab Alex with it. The Cougar gave a step back, ready to charge up a lightning in his paw, when the rhino officer pulled a gun, and pointed at the elephant.

"Hey, hey, hey!" He said, pointing it at the pachyderm and making sure that he could see it. "Calm down, big guy!"

It seemed to take only a moment for the elephant to calm down, and he retreated his trunk to back to his cell, but his eyes were still glued into Alex. Looking at him, Alex only took a moment to recognize him.

"Alfonse Trunkemor…" Alex said in a low voice, and he looked around, recognizing the criminals from the mall. They all looked at Alex, two or three of them into the same cell, and they all traded whispers among themselves as they looked at the cougar. Some with anger, some with fear. Most of them surely with fear.

Once the elephant had calmed down, and was back into his cell, the rhino and hippo continued to escort Alex across the cells, and he passed by the animals who were into the mal, all of them looking at him, some whimpering when he passed, scared. Alex was guided to an empty cell, and they opened the door, and gestured for him to get in, what Alex did without any questioning.

Soon, they locked him in there, and they left, and Alex was left alone once again into that small cell.

Alex looked at it, and wondered how on earth… or whatever was the name of this new world he was in… he ended up into a cell again. Well, at least this time it was just a regular cell, not a fancy and strong thing, designed to prevent him from using his powers. And they weren't putting him into heavy restraints or straightjackets, and neither giving him pills and medications that he couldn't even speak the name, with the finality of preventing him from using his powers to escape.

It was just a cell, and for that, Alex was surprised to discover that he was actually quite glad. He sighed, as he walked to the bunk bed, and sat into the lower one. Alex was now back into wondering what he was going to do, and what was his next course of action.

Well, it was pretty obvious. He was going to stay in there and try to prove his innocence for these animals. Also, he was sure that he would not drink or eat anything that they offered, for he was still as careful as he had ever been, and he knew that they could drug him with something into his food or water, and Alex was not going to fall for that again.

Alex was still worried sick about his friends, and he was asking himself where they could be, and what could have happened to them. The idea of them being lost into that new world too was still in his mind, and Alex caught himself imagining if they were as scared and confused with their new forms as he was when he first woke up. Well, he knew that some of them would very likely freak out about the subject.

Still, now that Alex was being held captive, he had nothing to do but to wait. Alex knew that his situation had already been better, but he knew that it could actually be a lot worse. With that thought in mind, he decided that he would stay in there, and he was going to hope to have his innocence into that situation proven, so he could be out of that hole, and he could go on with his life, and try to find his friends, wherever they were…

Alex could only sit there and sigh, as he would relax, look at the bars of his cell, and wait…

* * *

Bogo sighed as he walked out of that interview room. The cougar had a good deal of self-control, and he was surely no strange to situations like that, this was for sure.

The buffalo walked into the hallway, as the other door right after the one of the interrogation room opened, and the three animals come out, all of them looking up at him. The buffalo sighed, and he knew that there were coming a lot of questions at the moment, and he was not exactly in the mood for all of them at that given moment.

Actually, he'd rather avoid them as much as possible. However, one look into the eyes of the other three had told him that this was impossible. And it was soon confirmed as they started to bombard him with questions and commentaries as they moved up the hallway.

"Do you really think the cougar had something to do with the incident?"

"Do you really plan to arrest him?"

"What did you meant by 'animals like him'?"

These and more questions were all thrown at him as he moved up, along with some commentaries like:

"Bogo, I don't think that the cougar actually was related to that robbery in any way."

"Having participated only to save everyone? This seems a little forced, don't you think?"

"Chief, I think we should interrogate the other criminals, maybe they all know about what really happened, and they all seemed to be really shocked by the cougar. It didn't seemed that they knew each other at all."

Bogo was now massaging his temples, as all of these questions were getting to him. He only hoped that he could avoid them long enough to think on a good explanation to give to everyone.

As he walked, he met Officers Krumpanski and Higgins right in front of the entrance, and they were both gathered around a tablet, but they both leapt to attention as they saw their chief erupting from the door.

"Krumpanski. Higgins. Good I found you two." Bogo said, ignoring the boar, fox and bunny that had been following him, and he focused only into the hippo and rhino in front of him. "I have a cougar into the interview room three, the cougar that came with the SWAT, I want you two to escort him to the holding cells. He will be staying there for a while."

They shared a look, and Higgins asked. "T-the cougar? The one the SWAT brought?" He asked, and Bogo said.

"Yes, that cougar."

"The lightning cougar?" Krumpanski asked, and this caught Bogo's attention.

"The what now?"

"Yeah, that is how they are calling him!" Higgins said, and gestured at the tablet. "There are at least ten videos of him into the internet."

Bogo felt the blood being drained from his features. "WHAT!?" He said as he snatched the tablet from Higgins paws, and looked at it. It was currently into a video with the title: **REAL LIFE SUPERHERO**.

Bogo only had to press play to see the cougar shooting arcs of lightning into the criminals of the mall.

Bogo's hands were shaking as he looked at it, and he saw that there were links to other videos, all with titles like: ' **WATCH THIS NOW! IT ISN'T FAKE!** ', ' **A MAMMAL WITH SUPERPOWERS! FOR REAL!** ', or ' **SUPERHEROES JUST GOT REAL!** '

They all seemed to actually show the same thing, the cougar, filmed from several different angles by different cameras, and fighting the criminals and shooting lightnings from his paws. Bogo looked at each figure with sweat dripping from his forehead and into his hands, as it seemed that, despite them having confiscated most of the cell phones and other recording devices of the area, some of the animals in there managed to already upload the videos.

"Chief?" Krumpanski's voice called Bogo back to reality, as he was facing the rhino, who asked. "These videos… they are real?"

Bogo didn't answered, and he actually took a few moments to find his voice. "J-just… just go and put the cougar into the cell." He said, and he walked away, leaving the two officer behind. They looked at the other three for answers, but Nick and Judy shrugged as they went after their boss. The boar too passed, saying to the two. "You better do as Bogo said." He said as he rushed to keep up with the other three animals.

As Bogo walked, he saw many groups of animals gathered in circles, looking at tablets or cell phones, and they all seemed to be chatting among themselves as they gathered and saw something that was really catching their attention. Bogo didn't even needed to think too much to know exactly what they were seeing that was catching their attention so much.

"Chief!" Judy's voice called, and he stopped and turned around, to see Hopps, Wilde, and Razorback, all of them getting hot on his track. Wilde was looking around, seeing the animals gathered in circles, as he spoke: "Yeah, it seems our cougar has got himself some fans…"

"Chief, what is going on?" Judy asked, and Razorback said:

"Bogo, I think that now might be time for some explaining."

Bogo looked at each animal, and Judy asked. "Chief, what do you know about this whole situation?"

She had the right to ask something like that, and Bogo knew it. They all had the right to know the answers, and now that it seemed that the bubble of silence had finally popped; maybe there was no problem in telling them…

"Judy! Nick!" Clawhauser's voice suddenly snapped all of their attention. They had stopped right into the front of the reception desk, and the overweight cheetah was nearly dropping from his desk as he leaned to look at the two small officers.

"Have you seem this!? It is for real!? It is the same cougar you two have been chasing!?" Clawhauser asked all of these questions in a hurry, and Bogo was already ready to tell him to chill out and stop that, when his phone started to ring.

Distracted, Bogo picked it, and he saw that the call identifier, only for it to say: unknown number.

However, Bogo had very little need for the call identifier, for he already had a good idea of who it was and what it was about.

Taking a deep breath and a sigh, Bogo turned to them, and he said, "Will you all give me just a minute, this call is very important." They did gave him a minute, but it was clear by the expression on their faces that he was going to give to them all of the answers that they wanted when he finished that call.

Bogo walked to out of everyone's hearing shot, and he looked at his phone, which was still ringing. He took a deep breath, almost as if to steel himself, and he answered it, guiding the phone to his ear.

"Savage." Bogo said, and the familiar voice in the other end came.

" _Bogo… didn't you said that you had the whole situation taken care of?_ " That question hit Bogo hard. He had been talking with Savage a lot in the last one and a half hour, and he made sure to let the mammal on the other end of the line know that Bogo had the whole situation under control, and that he didn't needed his help.

Now Bogo knew that he would never hear the end of the 'I told you so's from Savage's end.

" _Well, I just stumbled upon a few interesting things into the internet, and I have to say… What exactly 'under control' means to you?_ " Savage asked, and Bogo flinched at it, almost as if he had received a physical blow. The tune of Savage's voice was not one of mockery and it didn't sounded as if he was scolding Bogo in any way, it was simply as if he was asking him a question about why he didn't made this own work right. To someone as proud as Bogo, hearing that kind of thing from a guy like this Savage made him feel like an incompetent.

Savage was one of the few mammals in the whole world that had ever been able to make Bogo feel like that, and that was one the reasons why Bogo had been dreading this kind of phone call.

"Things got out-of-hand." Bogo spoke to the mammal into the other end. "I guess I didn't predicted that some of the animals into the mall would already be posting it into the internet."

" _Well, it seems that some did it. Other hid out their phones and tablets before you could get them, or even posted the images into the internet before you could get your paws into the devices._ " Savage spoke calmly form the other side of the line, and he added, " _Some of them have made quite high quality images. Very good, considering that it wasn't any professional material of recording. The cameras on these things are getting better and better, now it seems that anyone can make professional recordings._ "

Bogo brought a paw over his own face and dragged it across it. He took a few deep breaths, to try to calm himself down, and he said. "Yeah, okay, I know. High-resolution recordings in the internet, everything is out now, and there is nothing we can do about it, I screwed it up big time, I know."

" _Not necessarily_." Savage spoke, and this caught Bogo's attention, as the mammal in the other end. " _I have been scrolling down at the comments into the videos, and it seems that most animals who seem it think it is some kind of fake video, maybe a promotional thing for a product or a new science fiction series_."

"So, no one believes it?" Bogo asked, and Savage soon answered.

" _Oh, they believe! There is a good deal of animals who are questioning the video, but they seem to think it is real, or at least is that what it seems by the comments._ " Savage spoke that very calmly, and he continued. " _Anyway, the amount of animals who are taking the video seriously is enough for us to give it attention, not to mention that they haven't stopped sharing the videos. It has been only half an hour, and the amount of mammals sharing these videos has already reached the house of the hundreds._ "

Bogo nodded, and he said, "So, what do we do now."

" _Do you still have the cougar with you?_ "

"My officers are putting him into one of the holding cells as we speak." Bogo said, and he added, "We are going to try to hold him for as long as possible, he didn't tried to escape yet, so I guess that he really isn't so dangerous after all."

" _Good, try to keep him out of sight. I'll see if I can do anything about these videos. Hopefully we will have this whole situation controlled in a few days._ "

"I'm not sure if that is possible." Bogo said, and there was a silence into the line, as he spoke.

"Dozens of mammals saw that the cougar did into the mall, between them was Gazelle herself, and you know how mammals take her seriously. Even if you manage to erase these videos, I really doubt that we would be able to keep this all a secret for long."

The mammal on the other line remained in silence for a few moments, before he sighed, and he spoke. " _Maybe you are right, Bogo._ " The buffalo heard as the animal spoke that. " _Well… maybe it was fated to happen, after all. You can fool many animals for some time, and you can fool a few mammals for a long time, but you can't fool all the mammals at all the time._ "

Bogo rolled his eyes, it was one of these moments when Savage would paraphrase some other famous saying, trying to pass by a philosopher. Still, Bogo knew that he was right. He knew ever since the first time that he got involved with Savage, and with the kinds of things that he dealt with, that someday the bubble would pop, and the world would know about it.

" _Well, let's keep an eye on everything, and we will see what will happens now._ " Savage said to Bogo. " _Keep an eye on that cougar too, see if he really is as nice as he claims to be, and be sure that he doesn't escape._ "

"You don't even need to tell me that." Bogo said, and Savage answered:

" _Well, I guess this is all for now, we'll keep on touch_."

"Wait!" Bogo said, and he added, "The chief of the SWAT team and two of my best officers have passed by a while of this, and they are pressing me for answers."

After a few moments, Savage said, " _Well, explain to them what you think that they need to know, I trust your discernment._ "

With that, Savage hung up into the other end, and Bogo let out a sigh as he looked at his phone. He didn't even bothered into trying to use any resource of his phone to try to track on the last call, he knew that it would have absolutely no result.

Bogo knew that Savage was the kind of mammal that was used to take care of these kinds of situations, even since Bogo first had contact with him years ago. Still, Bogo couldn't help the feeling on his gut that he had every time that he deposited his trust into Savage. After all, it was very hard to trust into someone whose face he had never even saw in the past.

Still, once more Bogo was trusting him, for once more, Bogo didn't knew how else could help him with something like that…

* * *

As Bogo spoke with Savage into the phone, the videos of what had happened into the mall were becoming, at least in Zootopia, viral. They were shared more and more with each passing minute, and the animals were watching it as if it was the latest edition of ZNN.

True to Savage's words, many animals dismissed it as fake, thinking that maybe it was one of these things made using graphic computation, but there was a very good deal of mammals who took it as real. These animals, besides their opinion, shared the video with their friends, either to show or to ask their opinion, and this way, the videos of the "lightning cougar" were soon going to be the top subject into the internet.

They were been seen by everyone in Zootopia, in all of the precincts, including the Rainforest District, in which a familiar white van without windows was parked, and three animals were just watching the video of the lightning cougar in a cell phone.

"See!?" The wolf said, pointing at the image playing into the video of that cougar shooting lightnings. "See!? You believe us now!?"

The sheep with black wool only looked astonished at the image playing, loss of words. When the two wolves told him what had happened inside the mall, he literally couldn't believe it. A cougar with electrical superpowers? It was just too absurd to be truth.

Of course, this seemed to be changing now that he was seeing so many videos of exactly what the two wolves had described.

"And you thinking we were crazy!" The other wolf said, and the sheep only continued to stare into the video, before he turned it off, and he only stared at the void for a few moments, before he turned his attention back to the two wolves.

"What do we do now?"

"Well, I don't know you two, but I want to get out of sight before the cops or, God forbid, that cougar!" The wolf said, and the other wolf agreed with him. Even the sheep was forced to agree that all that was happening was surely not what they signed for, and that it was better to lay down and remain out of sight for a while, at least until the dust settled.

Turning on the van, he started to drive, when suddenly, he stepped on the breaks. He barely avoided hutting a rhino who was just passing in front of them.

"Hey!" The great horned being said, giving a step behind.

"Oh, what now!?" The wolf said, as he peered his head from out of the van, and he said. "Get out of the way!"

"Don't you see where you are going!?" The rhino said to him, looking to be very pissed.

"Out of the way!" The wolf repeated, getting pissed off. The rhino was blocking their way, and they didn't wanted to stay in there for longer than it was needed.

"Look, I'm having a very difficult and strange day now! Don't make me angry!" The rhino said, clenching his fists, and the wolf finally had enough, he jumped out of the van, and soon, he was pointing a gun at the rhino. Most rhinos would feel confident if they were facing claws, teeth, or even blades, for they had a very thick skin, but with bullets, the story surely was different.

"Don't talk to me about difficult days!" The wolf spat back at him, as the other wolf and the sheep both jumped out of the van and were now standing by the side of the wolf with the gun. Luckily for everyone the road was desert, so there were no witnesses around.

"I had a much worse day, which included getting into a brawn with a wolf that could shoot lightnings from his paws!" The wolf cried out, and this caught the attention of the rhino.

"Shoot… lightnings?" He asked, giving one step forward, almost as if he wasn't seeing the gun, and the wolf said.

"Yes! A cougar that shoot lightnings in us! If you don't believe than look into the internet! They are only talking about him!"

"This… cougar…" The rhino said, looking at him, "His name wouldn't happen to be Alex Hunter, would it?"

"I don't know and I don't care what his name is!" The wolf said, and he seemed ready to shot to the rhino. "I just want to open the biggest possible distance between myself and that freak!"

The rhino looked at him, and at his gun, his eyes narrowed.

"Move out of the way!" The wolf repeated, and he triggered his weapon. He was really ready to give that rhino a bullet in the chest if he didn't moved out of the way.

The rhino, however, didn't seemed to mind very much, that until his started to slightly raise his two hands. However, it only lasted for a moment, before he threw both of them forward, in direction of the three animals in front of him.

In that moment, the three animals were propelled backwards, as if they were pushed back by an invisible force, reeling into the ground until the three of them slammed their backs into a tree.

During this, the wolf dropped his weapon, and now, they were all dizzy, trying to understand what had just happened. However, they didn't had much time to think about it, for immediately, the rhino walked to them, and grabbed all of them by their shirts. He had the wolf in one hand and a wolf and a sheep into the other.

He raised them all at his eye level, and they recovered their senses just in time to see a very pissed look into the hazelnut-colored eyes of that rhino, as he spoke:

"Tell me all you know about that cougar…"


	7. Things Getting Complicated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Bogo tries to explain the sittuation to the ones he trusts, and Alex still tries to coup with his new sittuation and decide what to do next, someone decides totake thigns to a new step. The sittuation is escalating quickly, and as it does, the whole sittuation gets weirder and more complicated, for everyone...

Minutes were passing, and Alex was still awaiting.

He continued to look at the ceiling of the cell they had put him into, and he still wondered just what was going to happen next.

Alex tried to remember himself of all of the events that led to that moment, and each time that he tried to replay what he knew to be the last less-than-twenty-four-hours, Alex still had troubles to believe it.

The previous night he was into a building, into a personal mission with his friends and the ones that he trusted most, some of them old acquaintances of him, some of them new faces he had met from a few weeks to a few days ago. Nevertheless, they all were people that he came to trust and care about, people who he knew that he could trust to have his back and whom they would cove r the back if they ever needed, and they were all willing to help him into this mission.

They arrived, and they seemed to have it under control, until of course, Alex saw Bastille's face, and it was only a matter of time to assume that things would go south from there. Alex still felt like giving himself a good kick in the butt for not predicting that Stoats would resort to hiring other evos to help him. After all, ever since the events of the Carnival and Claire Bennet, evos had took a more and more present place in the underworld, as "powers for hire", super-powered bodyguards, and even as mutant hitmen.

Since the events of the H.E.L.E, evos started to receive better treatment, and to be employed by some governmental agencies as special resorts, but of course, this didn't reduced the number of them that were already in the black market and global criminal underworld, even before the great reveal of evos to the world. People like Bastille, who was ready to sell his abilities to whoever gave to him the biggest price.

Next thing he knew was that he was about to surrender to Stoats and give him exactly what he wanted, what caused him a great feeling of failure and helplessness, when all of sudden, the whole building shook and was swallowed by a giant vortex of light. Alex had no idea of what it was or where it came from, but he knew that it had appeared almost as if on cue, and that it had taken the whole building and everyone in it.

Next Alex was spinning inside that vortex, holding Linda with all of his might, trying to avoid losing the last thing that he still recognized. The last thing that Alex saw was Linda being taken away by the vortex, before he finally blacked out, completely sure that he was going to die. He remembered a feeling of hotness in his body, as if he was being heated up, and also the feeling that his body was somehow melting… no, like it was being reshaped, almost like it was clay… it was so weird.

An unknown amount of time later, Alex woke up into a hospital, and two creatures that looked as if they had come out of an old animation movie greeted him. A moose and a gazelle, both animals that walked like people and wore clothes just as humans do, and they behaved just like humans would. Alex took less than a few minutes to realize that he had been transported into some new kind of world where the animals behave like people, walked on two legs and walked around dressed. Not only that, but he realized that he himself had somehow been turned into one of them. Alex Hunter found himself turned into an anthropomorphic cougar.

All of that still seemed like a strange joke, or maybe some kind of deep hallucination, or even a very wild and vivid dream, like the ones that he had when he was still a kid. Still, Alex just had to raise up his hand… or what once was his hand, and take a good look at it, to see a paw-like hand covered into light-cream fur, with four fingers and paw-pads in his palms, and he knew that it was real, or at least it felt real to him. Alex continued to look at his paw/hand for a while, and with a slightly flex of it, he unsheathed his claws. Not the nails he had, but real claws, just like the ones felines were supposed to have.

Alex learned to do that almost by accident into his cell, as he was inspecting his hew hand and discovered how to unsheathe his claws. _Nice thing to have into a fight._ Alex thought with humor after the initial surprise of the claws had passed. Alex would normally be much more surprised for him suddenly having claws, however, in retrospect; the claws were probably the less weird thing that had happened to him in the past hours.

Continuing with the flashback, he escaped the hospital, had a meal that consisted into insect-based products (to which Alex seemed to have a very new taste for) and had a meeting with a fox cop (no kidding), and he had to use his powers to shock the smaller animal and knock him out enough for him to escape. Later on he stopped by a mall, and was met by the same fox cop, now follow by a _bunny_ cop (again, no kidding!) and right in that moment, the mall started to be robbed.

Next thing Alex knew was that he was forced to take action, and that he had to use his powers to fight the wolves, lion and elephant that were robbing the mall (that seemed like some short of twisted joke), and he was able to take them out with the help of the two diminutive cops. Only for him to get under arrest shortly after, taken in as if he was a criminal, under some protest of the other animals in there, who he had saved.

Later he was took to the police office, interrogated by a burly and mean-looking buffalo who was the police chief and whom, thankfully, seemed not to be hostile towards him due to his powers, and finally was placed into one of these containment cells. Now there he was, waiting for what was to come next, and wondering what was going to happen now, that it seemed that everyone already knew that he was no ordinary cougar, but a cougar with the power to shot lightnings from his paws.

Alex groaned, as he slapped his paw into his face.

Everything that he just thought seemed like the plot of a b-type fiction movie for children, or then the plot of a bad written piece of fanfiction. Still, Alex soon convinced himself that it was his own reality, no mattering how absurd, strange, or even stupid it sounded. It didn't even mattered if it was all real or the product of his mind that had completely cracked. The point was, all that has happened to him and that was still happening felt real to him, enough for him to assume that it was real. At least to him.

Alex sighed, he sat in the bed of the cell, and he looked at the bars, a few more than three feet away from him. By the other side, Alex could see another mammal inside one of the holding cell in front of his', and it was a familiar face. The lion that he had stopped into the mall, he was already up and he looked at him with a look of anger, telling Alex that he would get him if he could.

Alex looked at him, and stretched his furred arm in direction to the bars of the cell, and a moment later, small lightnings jumped from his paw.

The lion almost jumped out of his fur when he saw the arcs of lightning move from the cougar's paw, but they were not coming to him. Instead, the arcs of lightning jumped to the metal bars of Alex's cell, forming arcs that connected them to his paws. The electricity even jumped from one bar to the other, forming arcs of lightning that danced in the air as they moved to the bars and in between them.

It lasted for around a few moments, before it stopped with Alex closing his hand. The lion looked at him with an expression that denoted shock and fear. Alex looked at him with some of the same anger, and then, he sighed, dismissing it as something that he had no time to think about in the moment.

 _Well, at least they didn't made me share a cell with any of these guys **.**_ Alex thought as he sat on the side, his back laying against the wall as he looked at the cells, and kept his arm stretched to it. Small arcs of lightning jumped from the tips of his furry fingers to the bars, and he could only imagine just for how long they intended to keep him in there, and what they would do to him later on.

His thoughts went for some moments, like the fact that many people saw him saving them from these criminals, and even stood for him as he was arrested, that actually made him have a good feeling. Not to mention the talk he had with "Chief Bogo" upstairs.

The fact that the buffalo seemed to be completely unsurprised by his abilities, and the way that the buffalo told to him that he had nothing against "mammals like him" was something that made Alex feel of several different ways, from surprise to worry and to relief.

It almost was as if that buffalo has some kind of experience with people who were able to do the things that Alex himself could.

Like he had his own experience with evos…

Alex continued to play with his lightnings, as he wished that he had telepathy instead of electrokinesis, so he could look in the buffalo's mind to know exactly he knew about him, and what his intentions with him were…

* * *

Bogo closed the door and locked it, before he turned his attention to the four mammals that were with him in it. Hopps, Wilde, Ferris and Razorback all looked at him, still waiting for the answers that the buffalo said he would give. They had went through a lot recently, well, at least Wilde and Hopps had, and they deserved answers, as well as one of his oldest friends, and the same scientist that first saw the whole thing.

Bogo took one last look into the door, as if to make sure that there was no one else in the other side plotting to hear the conversation from the other side. He seemed to be satisfied, and he sighed, knowing that he had delayed the inevitable for too much time already.

"Please, take a seat." He said calmly to the four.

The mammals shared a look among themselves, and soon they were taking on the chairs.

Razorback took only one, while the other three smaller mammals shared one by standing into it. Bogo walked around his desk, and he sat on his own chair, and he pressed the intercom, "Clawhauser, hold all of my calls and don't call me unless it is _extremely_ important."

A quick answer from the cheetah on the other end was enough for Bogo, and he turned his attention to the four faces that were looking at him expectantly. Bogo let out a great sigh, and he stood straight in his chair, before saying, "Well, where do I begin with?"

There was a silence in the room, and then, Ferris voice was the first to speak. "Well, we could maybe start about who exactly is Alex Hunter… sir." He added, seeing Bogo's eyes lock on him. Right after, Razorback spoke.

"That is actually a good place to start, Bogo." He said, with his arms crossed, and looking at the cape buffalo, who looked back at him, and he said, "Yeah, I guess you are right." He said, and he relaxed in the chair, putting his two hands together as he looked at them.

"Well, Alex Hunter is… a mammal who is different from most other mammals." Bogo said, and he sounded as if he was choosing his words carefully. The other mammals in the room exchanged looks among themselves, they all were thinking that Bogo was just stating what was obvious, and everyone in the room already figured out, and Nick had the bravery to ask.

"But… _who_ is he?"

Bogo looked up at him, Nick was actually able to look back at him, Bogo let out a huge breath, and he said, "I have no idea of who he is." He admitted, and this surprised the other animals.

Bogo could already see many more questions forming in their mouths, and he quickly added. "I never seem him before today. I don't know his past, I don't know where he came from, and honestly, I guess I know about just as much as you know already." He said, and he also said, "Of course, I already knew about the 'lightning cougar' thing sooner than most of you already." He said, and cast a glance at Ferris, who gave a meek nod at him.

Bogo let out yet another huge breath, and there was another round of silence in the room, that was broken by Judy, who asked, "How can Hunter…"

Bogo already knew what she was going to ask, and all of them knew, that was why she didn't needed to finish. That was the million zoolars question, and the one that they all wanted to see answered, and Bogo took a deep breath, and he spoke to them.

"What if I told you all that some mammals have talents that others don't?" He asked, and looked at them all as they looked back at him. "And I'm not talking about a bat's sonar thing, or about the smell spray of a skunk, no. What if I told you that there are some mammals out there who are able to do things that no ordinary mammal, of any species, should be able to do?"

The others looked at him, and there was another wave of silence, and Nick asked, "You mean… like the X-Mammals?"

It was obviously a joke, but Bogo looked as serious as ever, and he sighed, as he said, "Yeah, I guess that are few better ways of describing it."

The other animals perked as they looked at Bogo, and he took a deep breath and he said, "We call them ' _meta mammals_ '."

* * *

In another part of Zootopia, more to the central part of Savannah Central, some animals were going to a bank. Animals from medium to bigger size entered the doors of the Furs National Bank, one of the most important bank agencies of the country and maybe the most important one of Zootopia, to take out some money or to pay their checks. Anyway, they were all entering in there, only minding their own business, and none of them imagining that anything out of the ordinary was about to happen. Most of them simply thought that it was going to be just another regular day at Zootopia and at that bank agency.

They had no idea of what was coming…

A white colored van parked right in front of the bank, with a very nervous black sheep in the steering wheel. On the back of the van, two wolves were sitting, looking scared at a rhino, who looked back at them with an expression of almost nasty disinterest. None of them said a word, and after a while, he looked at the front, where the sheep was.

"Are we here?"

There was a moment of silence before the sheep spoke, in a scared voice "Y-yes sir."

"Good. The rhino spoke, and he said, "Turn it off and pick your guns; I might need you all for this" He said to the animals, and they simply nodded, and the wolves picked up the guns and loaded them, while the sheep turned the van off. The wolves were about to put on their masks, when the rhino said, "Don't bother." and casually opened the door of the van stepping outside.

The wolves hesitated, sharing a look among themselves, and they soon followed, and so did the sheep, exiting the van and locking it. He even bothered to turn the alarm on. The rhino looked around, and in direction to the bank, and he saw many animals walking in and out of that building that had the saying: **FURS NATIONAL BANK**.

He looked at the great words for a few seconds, craning his neck slightly to the side, before he said, "Seriously?" with a raised eyebrow and a "you can't be serious" look. The wolves stopped for a moment to look at him as he looked at the bank with a strange form of interest.

They shared a look among themselves, and one of them loaded his weapon, but before they could do anything else, the rhino immediately turned to them, and said, "Don't even think about it…" through clenched teeth in the form of a snarl and a snort. The wolves immediately cornered in fear and whimpered as their ears pressed on the back of their heads and their tails tucked in between their legs. With what they knew about that rhino and the look that he was giving to them, none of them both would think of do anything to risk becoming the target of his anger.

The rhino continued to glare at them for a few moments, before he snorted, and said, "You go in the front." He was talking in a voice tone that made it clear that that was how it was going to be. After all, he was no fool to give some armed dudes his back; he learned that lesson a long time ago.

They complied, and moved forward, going in direction to the bank as the rhino followed behind. He stopped to cast a glance at the sheep, who looked a bit hesitant. The rhino scoffed, looking right into his eyes with horizontal pupils, and gestured for him to keep moving.

"Why me?" The sheep said, "I'm useless!"

The rhino growled, and raised a hand as if he was ready to backslap the sheep. The sheep flinched and let out a scared bleat, despite being more than five feet away from him, and then he quickly started to walk forward, as if the rhino could really hit him from that distance.

As the three animals walked forward, the rhino walked behind them, and as they walked, they attracted a lot of attraction, because the wolves were making little effort that they were carrying something that looked like military weapons.

Some animals let out exclamations, others screamed, and many of them quickly tried to turn away and even dive into the ground to avoid being target to possible bullets. The four animals had no resistance as they walked past the sliding doors of the bank and entered, and as they did, soon there was ruckus in the place as all the others in the bank, patrons and workers, all saw that there were two armed wolves walking inside. Followed closely by a sheep and a rhino, who both looked unarmed.

"Okay, you animals!" The rhino screamed, making everyone listen to them. "No one here tries any funny business!"

The wolves shared a look, and soon they were raising their weapons, showing that they were ready to shot anyone who tried to move. The animals cried out as they dropped to the ground, covering their heads with their arms in order to protect themselves. The rhino looked at the counter, where the workers were at, and he said, "Hey, you!" as he pointed at the counter. "I know that there is alarms in there!"

Immediately, the animals put their arms in the air as they stepped away from the counters, showing that they were not going to activate it, but the rhino surprised them as he said. "Trigger it now!" There was a silence as everyone in the bank looked at him, and the rhino, seeing that they were not doing as he said, snorted, as he stepped forward, and said, "You heard it right! Trigger the alarms of this bank! The silent one! My ears are too sensitive!"

The animals in the counter looked at each other, confused. These guys were obviously there to rob the bank, and sure that they would want the alarms not to be activated so they could get away before the cops would arrive. Right?

"I said to trigger it now!" The rhino roared, and the animals in the other side of the counters flinched, as one of them, a female leopard, slowly stepped forward and did as he said, and activated the silent alarm.

"Is it on now?" He asked, and the leopard woman only looked at him and nodded. "Good." He said, and turned to the others that ended up becoming his accomplishes. "Now we wait." He said casually, but his face was serious, almost angry, and as he said it, his ear twitched, catching a sound that almost sounded like a weapon being triggered.

He quickly turned around, to look at a bear security-man, who looked back at him with a dart gun pointed at him. The rhino snorted, and walked in his direction, as the bear, who seemed scared out of his life, was trembling as he kept his dart-gun pointed at the rhino.

"I had a really bad day, teddy bear." He said to the bear, "Don't make me angrier."

The bear, however, seeming to be stupid, only kept the dart gun pointed at him, and the rhino snorted, as he clenched his fists, and in that moment, some animals could feel some kind of gush of wind that seemed to be coming from his direction.

That wind grew stronger, and it was making some papers fly and ruffing the fur of some of the ones in there. Before anyone could react, the rhino snorted as he made a movement with his arm, and immediately, the bear lost his balance, as if he suddenly was hit by something.

The bear had to fight to keep his footing, he was having difficulty to move, and he was starting to reel back on the ground, as it now seemed that he was caught in the middle of a very strong gust of wind. Suddenly, the rhino moved both of his arms, and the bear was lift from the ground.

The ones in there all gasped as they saw the bear be lifted from the ground and shaken around in circles as if he was a ragdoll, before the rhino made a movement with his arms, and the bear was propelled to the other side of the bank, crashing into a panel of glass and staying in the ground.

There was a long moment of stunned silence, before the rhino turned back at the ones in the bank, and said, "Anyone else want to try pissing me off!?"

They all cried out in fear as they laid flat in the ground, and the rhino took this as a good sigh. Good, the last thing he needed now were some of these damned animals trying to pounce on him when he gave them his back. He already had enough problems the way it was now.

He walked for a few minutes, and during this time, all the animals around, including the ones that seemed to be his accomplishes, were looking at him with a mix of fear and wonder. However, the fear was definitely the thing that was present in there more than any other emotion as they looked at that strange rhino.

After almost ten minutes, there was someone at the doors. The rhino looked, and he saw two cops standing in the outside, a wolf and a polar bear. The rhino grunted, as he walked to the door, and opened it, standing front to front with the two officers, who looked back at him.

"Why took you so long?" He asked, seeming a bit annoyed, and the cops shared a look among themselves, and the wolf said.

"Sir… is everything okay?" He seemed worried, "We just received the message of what seemed to be a bank robbery in progress…"

"Yes, it is in progress, but is not a robbery." The rhino said, looking at him, "What is happening is that I took all these animals in here as hostages."

The two officers looked at him, shocked. "Excuse me?" The polar bear asked, and the rhino said.

"You heard it!" He sounded annoyed, and he said, "Now, I have only one demand, and I hope that you comply with it, unless you want the animals inside to get hurt."

The officers shared a look, and they tried to reach for their weapons. However, the rhino was faster, and he made a movement with his arm, which cause d a gust of wind that made both polar bear and wolf to be propel backwards.

They landed on the ground, the wolf a bit farther way, and they tried to stand, but the rhino outstretched his hand into their direction.

Right on cue, a very powerful wind that seemed to be coming from the very outstretched hand of the rhino, and it was blowing right into them. The wolf was pushed back, but the polar bear, a bit heavier, was being able to resist the strong winds, but only barely. He was skimming into the ground, his hands and paws grinding as he tried to keep his footing, his claws slightly scrapping at the concrete, but he was being pushed back.

The wolf was able to hold onto the tire of the police car, which was being somewhat affected by the wind, as it was being forced to one side by the strong wind. The polar bear was skimmed into the ground as he soon was supporting himself into their car, and then, the rhino closed his hand and the wind just stopped.

Both animals were left shaken by the strange event that just happened, they both looked in surprise at the rhino as they recovered, said rhino who looked back at them, and the polar bear, after a few moments, said.

"Y-you said you had one demand?"

"Yes, I have one." He said, as he looked at them. "Bring me Alex Hunter! The one you call 'lightning cougar'! I know that you have taken him, and I want you to bring him here in thirty minutes or less, otherwise, I'll drop a few animal bodies into the street for you to pick up!" He said, and he turned his back, to walk back, leaving the two officers stunned.

They looked at each other, and the polar bear said. "Call back central."

"And say what?" The wolf asked, the polar bear thought a little, and he said, "Well, you can start by talking about the hostage thing and we figure out from there."

As they talked, the rhino walked back at the bank, and closed the door behind himself. He picked up a steel plate, from the things that they used to demark the lines of the back, and put it between the handlers of the door, effectively blocking it. He turned back at the animals, who all looked at him, and he said, "You all better hope that what I have heard about Alex Hunter is true."

As he spoke that, many animals whimpered, including the wolves, who were both armed, and the sheep who was with them. The rhino barely minded it, as he was far too focused in this to actually care about them, as long as none of them tried to make anything stupid. Besides, it was not the first time that he made hostages, and he was totally fine with it and with hurting someone if it was needed. He could completely ignore the fact that they were people and see them only as…

Oh, crap… Now he was thinking of _animals_ as _people_ …

* * *

Bogo had just said the words "meta mammals" to the four animals in his room, and he was about to say something more to explain it, since they surely wanted it, due to the expressions in their faces. However, before he could, his intercom buzzed, and Ben's voice could be heard from the other side, talking to him.

" _Chief! Chief, Chief, Chief!_ " He called. Bogo groaned, and nearly slammed his hoofed finger into the intercom, and he said, "Clawhauser! What did I just said about calling me?"

" _You said I could if it was important, and it IS important!_ "

Bogo took a few deep breaths to calm down, and he said, "It better be…"

" _There is a bank robbery! With hostages!_ " Clawhauser said, and Nick said, "This sounds quite of important." He said, and Bogo shot him a glare, and he pressed the button again, and said to Clawhauser.

"Sent some of our officers there, along with the hostage negotiation team." He said, and was about to go back to the talk, when Clawhauser's voice came once more, and he said, " _Their leader has super powers!_ "

This made the whole room stop, and Bogo quickly pressed the intercom again, as the other animals into the room looked at it. "Woah, woah, woah! What was that?" He asked, and Clawhauser said.

"Officers Snarlov and Wolfard where the first ones to arrive! They talked to the rhino, and when they tried to apprehend him, he pushed them way with wind! Well, at least that was what they said…"

Bogo cast a glance at the other animals into the room, who all looked at him with surprised expressions. After a while, Clawhauser said again in the intercom. " _Chief?_ "

The water buffalo snapped out of that and pressed the intercom again, and he said, "The rhino… he already made some demand?"

" _Yeah, they said he did._ " Clawhauser said, " _He told them to bring him Alex Hunter, the lightning cougar! And he told them to do it in less than thirty minutes or else he is going to kill someone into the bank!_ "

There was a great silence into the room as everyone shared looks. So, they just had apprehended a cougar who could shot lightnings, and who had stopped a robbery into a mall. In the same day, just around one or two hours later, another mammal who also had super powers made hostages and demanded for that same cougar to be brought to him?

To think that it was all a huge coincidence would only be a show of the purest and most complete ingenuity.

"He demanded anything else?" Bogo asked, and Clawhauser's answer buzzed form the intercom.

" _No, he only demanded for Alex Hunter. He didn't asked for anything else._ "

"Only that as a demand?" Razorback said, "Now that is quite suspicious."

There was a long silence, before Bogo pressed the intercom again, and he said, "Clawhauser, what bank is it?"

" _Furs National Bank._ "

"Call all our available officers and tell them to go there and to be ready for anything!" He said, right after he turned to Razorback. "Call back the SWAT, and tell them to have their weapons all ready."

The boar nodded, and got up to leave the place, and he turned to the rest of his subordinates. "Ferris, go back to the labs. Wilde, Hopps. You both are coming too." He said, getting up, "We all are going. But first I need to have a word with the 'lighting cougar'." He said, and he barely waited to hear the answer of his subordinates, as they all shared looks among themselves, and they all got up to leave, while their chief was going to have another meeting with Alex Hunter…

* * *

"Do you suddenly feel like your whole world has just changed?" Nick asked Judy as they both walked into the garage, where all of the official vehicles of the ZPD were kept, including theirs'.

They had went straight to there as they left along with commander Razorback and Ferris. The boar separated from them quickly as he was already on the phone, seemingly talking to someone in the SWAT. Ferris went back to the lab, saying that he wanted to take another look into the evidence that they had gathered, and also see if he could gather any information regarding this "hostage situation".

Nick and Judy had went straight to the garage, and they were on their way to their cruiser so they could join their fellows in front of the bank.

Nick saw that Judy wasn't responding to his question, she probably was too focused on the matter at hand to actually care to give him a straight answer. She probably was already on her "super carrot cop mode", and Nick knew that it was hard to get her to respond to any unimportant comment when she was like that.

Still, Nick was actually amazed on how well she was focused on the situation. After all, their boss had just told them that mammals with super powers existed. This of course, raised a lot of questions into Nick's head, like how people never actually heard of them? How _Nick_ , who had been in the streets nearly all of his life and had heard and seem all kind of weird stuffs into the streets, never even heard of something similar? _How_ did these… "meta mammals" had their abilities? Had they gained them from some experiment, or some freakish accident like in the comic books?

How the chief knew about them? Who else knew?

Did that meant that now there were going to be mammals running around in flashy costumes fighting crimes, helping catch bad guys and rescuing small cubs from trees?

These were just some of the many questions that popped on Nick's head, including some about the past, and others about the immediate future.

"Carrots, what do you think this rhino looks like?" Nick asked as they walked in direction to their cruiser, "Do you think he wears some costume and has a name like 'The Rhinonator'?"

"We'll see as soon as we arrive." She said to him and he nodded, and as they walked, Nick thought that he had caught something in the corner of his eye. Judy seemed not to notice it, as she continued to walk, and Nick stayed behind.

He was sure that he had just saw a small blur pass by a corner in between two vehicles that were meant for bigger mammals. Nick knew that they had a mission, but his curiosity got better of him. He decided to go check it out.

Nick walked in between the cruisers, and he looked around, soon, he spotted a small figure standing in between the cars. It was fox, which was for sure, and was small. This one was dressing what seemed to be a green colored little dress, and it was looking to the sides, as if it was searching something.

Nick looked at the small vixen from behind, and looked around, as if to see any parents who could have forgotten her in there. Seeing no one, Nick decided to approach the little girl and see if he could help her. After all, he was a cop.

He gently approached the little girl, and she seemed to be about to start sobbing, Nick spoke very gently, not wanting to scare her.

"Hmmm, hello, little miss?"

As Nick spoke, the girl raised her head, and turned around to look at him. She should be around six… seven years old, with a shade of crimson for her fur, cream colored muzzle and ears that were completely black in color, and she looked up at him with her amethyst-colored eyes, which were widen as she looked at him, with a few of the tears she was crying still rolling down her cheeks.

When he saw the wide eyes looking back at him, Nick for a moment thought that the little girl was going to be scared. However, instead she opened a big smile, as she opened her arms wide.

"Daddy!" She squealed as she hugged him by the neck. Nick was motionless.

"What?" Nick mumbled, and the little girl continued to hug him with a surprising strength.

"Daddy! We were searching for you! Mommy said you would find us in that place! But I got lost from her!" The little girl said as she continued to hug Nick. "You came to pick me up!" She said, as she finally let go of him, and she looked at him with these purple eyes. "Is mommy here too?"

Nick was able only to look back at her, and the only thought in his head was: _Okay, this is awkward…_

Nick was about to say something to the little girl, when his radio buzzed to life.

" _Nick! Where are you? Did you decided to go to bathroom now?_ " Judy's voice came, and Nick looked back at the small girl, who looked expectantly at him, and he gave her his back for a moment, and he said:

"Huhhh, Carrots, I kind of have a situation in here…"

" _Where are you?_ "

Nick walked from the two bigger vehicles, and was able to see their cruiser from there, and he could make out the shape that was Judy from the windshield of the car. He raised his arm and waved to her, and she soon saw him, and she buzzed into the radio.

" _Okay, I see you! What is the situation you have found? It better be something important!_ " She said, and Nick pressed the button of his radio, and he said.

"Oh, you can say that…" As he turned around, and he was talking. "As we were walking, I just saw…" He was about to say something, but stopped when he looked again in direction to the little girl, and saw that she wasn't alone anymore.

An adult red fox was kneeled in front of her, and he was holding her by the shoulders, as he talked to her in a gentle tune. "…. And that is why you can't just run from your mommy like that! You made all of us worried and…"

The voice of that tod… to Nick's ears sounded… awfully familiar.

The fox stopped talking, and Nick heard him mumble: "What a minute, that is exactly how…"

There was a moment of silence, before the adult fox turned his head back to look at Nick, and they both stared at each other.

That fox had a few patches of grey around his eyes, denoting that he maybe was on his early forties, and he had a scar into the left ear. However, other than that, the dog fox looked exactly like him! Up to the fur coloration to the green eyes that were wide as they looked back at him.

There were a few moments as they both looked at each other, seeming to be frozen, before the other fox quickly held the young vixen's hand and said in a rush, "Lets go, lets go now!" He said with urgency on his voice as he and the girl went off running, and Nick was left behind, embellished by what he had just witnessed.

He stood in there for a few more moments, before Judy's voice called him back to reality. " _Nick! Whatever it is you can take care of it later, now come to the cruiser now! We have a hostage situation!"_

Nick blinked as he was still trying to make sense of what had just happened. He took a second to register that Judy had talked to him, and he said in the radio. "I… huh… Y-yeah! I'm going…" He said, and cast one last glance at the direction he had saw the two foxes to run before he lost them of sight.

He hesitated, but soon he turned around and was leaving, going back to the cruiser, his mind still trying to make out heads and tails of this situation, to make a sense of what had just transpired to him…

* * *

Alex was still in his cell, and now, he was just looking at the ceiling, trying to count how many of these weird stains there were into it and trying to guess just what they could be. Some of them had weird colorations and shapes, and in Alex mind, they could be a wide variety of things, considering the kind of place he was.

Alex sighed as he could hear a sound that seemed like the radio of one of the nearby cells. Well, at least there was that to distract his mind form these stains, even if the news were of a myriad of names, places, and other events that Alex had no way of actually understanding, and the little that he did understood was something that he wasn't sure if he should take seriously or as a joke.

" _And confirming that the great power fallout that seemed to have occurred only in Zootopia actually occurred into the whole state and into the neighborhood states, including the area of the Three Burrows and other close locations, like Meadowlands and Outback Island. Several specialists are trying to figure out what could have caused such massive power outage into such a wide area. Up until now, they have come up with a massive failure into the power network and also some kind of interference that could have been caused by solar flare. However, no definitive explanation has been given yet. While this, many citizens seem to have their own theories about what could have caused it._ "

" _Solar fare?_ " Asked a male and high-pitched voice with a shouter accent. " _That s'a thing that yah folks of the city say to us folks of Podunk so we don't ask a lot of questions! But I know the truth! It is thing of these outbackers, ain't it? I know that these weirdos would love to take away our light to do God-knows-what back into their bunkers in tha' island of them! My grandpappy always told me to not trust the cute face of a koala, they are just waiting the chance to jump in yer neck when you lower yer guard!_ "

Right after that, another voice, deeper and a bit louder than the last, was saying, " _A solar flare? During the night? In several states at once? It sounds a bit forced, don't you think? And I don't think it could have been an accident either. It smells like terrorism to me. Cyberterrorism. Maybe one of these guys from another country trying to catch us off guard? Maybe. Anyway, we need to keep our eyes and ears open, after all, a careful reindeer is worth for two._ "

Finally, a female voice was saying. " _System failure!? Oh, right! The sheep did it! Yah know it, government folks! They are trying to figure out new ways of controlling us and to shut us down if they think we are getting on their way! I'm telling all of you! One day the sheep will start their attack and take the power, and we will become their servants and they will be the shepherds! Don't say I didn't warned yah!_ "

" _More information is coming about this strange power failure that occurred all over the surrounding states, and we will continue to follow the development of events and try to keep you all informed. More info coming shortly. On correlated news-_ "

Alex didn't got to her what were the correlated news, as in that moment, there was a the loud sound of a metal door being slammed open, and a booming voice called him. "Hunter!"

Alex jumped from the bed, as well as everyone else in their cells, and soon, a big buffalo passed by each cell, until he stopped right in front of Alex's cell and looked straight at the cougar.

Alex looked back at Chief Bogo, and he could easily see that the big buffalo didn't looked exactly happy, and looked back at him with a hard stare. Alex looked back at him, and he knew that there was something wrong, and it was something serious, by the look into that buffalo's face.

Bogo took a deep breath, and he said, "We just received notice of a situation in the Furs National Bank." He spoke, "A rhino entered the building and made several mammals as hostages."

When he heard the words "Furs National Bank" Alex had to try a little to hold back his laughter. The pun was bad, but it was really befitting the situation that Alex was in, and actually, it was so obvious and predicable that it was almost painful. It even seemed something that came from a playful fandom from some kind of movie or something of the like. Alex refrained all of his laughter, or even a snicker, for he knew that the buffalo could misinterpret it.

Instead, Alex only looked up at him, and he said, "Really?"

Bogo looked back at him, and he said, "Yeah, really. Do you know anything about it?" he asked as he continued to look at the cougar.

"Should I?"

"Maybe…" Bogo said, crossing his muscular arms over his broad chest as he looked down at the cougar on the other side of the bars. "Considering that the rhino has some special abilities, just like you, and that his only demand was for you to be taken to him."

This caught Alex's attention, as he raised from the bed and walked to the bars, looking at the buffalo. "Are you serious?" He asked. Could it be one of his friends? Could they have heard that he was caught and they were now trying to save him? But… it couldn't be, he knew his friends, none of them would resort to taking innocents as hostages, for several different reasons, mostly because it would be really wrong.

Bogo observed the cougar's reactions. He immediately saw genuine surprise for knowing of the situation, showing that maybe it truly wasn't something that he was planning. This was followed by what, in Bogo's eyes, seemed a little like some short of hope, but soon was followed by confusing and by an expression that showed some short for doubt. That cougar was somehow hard to read, but still, Bogo was getting some kind of idea of what he was thinking.

Alex raised his eyes, and looked at the buffalo. "This rhino… he said something else?"

"Only that if you weren't brought to him in thirty minutes he would kill someone."

That was it. It was surely not any of his friends. They had varying degrees of morality, due to their different origins, but they all draw their lines at murder. No matter how bad the situation was, even if they knew that Alex was in trouble, they would not resort to killing innocents, be they animals or humans. Even though, by now, Alex was not sure if there was really a difference between human and animal in this world he was in, considering that, the former didn't existed and the later was the absolute norm.

Alex looked up at him, and he said, "So… what happens now?"

"I have all my officers going to that place to see if we can try to avoid the situation of turning into a carnage." Bogo said, "Maybe we can talk some sense into that rhino's head." He continued to look at Alex, and he continued to look back at him, as if he was expecting something.

"Something else, officer?" Alex asked, and Bogo continued to look at him.

"Just wondering if you could tell me anything about this rhino we are facing, and if you could give us any useful information." Bogo spoke, seeming to have calmed down enough to have a civilized conversation with Alex. "He is a rhino with some kind of 'wind abilities', rings any bells?"

Alex looked back at him, and he was feeling slightly offended. "You think that only because both me and him have powers we know each other?"

"No, I think that since he asked specifically for you to be brought to him you two might know each other."

That was a very valid argument, and Alex had to admit it. Still, the idea of being related to a criminal who was threatening to kill innocents was something that made Alex uncomfortable.

Bogo continued to look at him, and Alex sighed, and he said, "Rhino, wind powers, don't ring any bells, sorry, but I don't think I know him." Truth to be told, as far as Alex could remember, none of his friends had similar abilities. Well, some of them had talents that could pass by this, but he was absolutely sure that they would never resort to doing something of the like.

"Well, this rhino seems to know you, once he has specifically called your name and demanded you to be brought to him. He seems to be really interested."

"Well, I'm really not sure why." Alex spoke, and Bogo continued to look at him. He buffalo was about to say something, when someone came nearly busting into the place, and soon figure came by Bogo's side. Alex looked curiously at it as it too was dressed as a cop, and Alex immediately was able to recognize it as a cheetah. An overweighed cheetah who was panting as he tried to recompose himself.

"Clawhauser! What is this?" Bogo asked, as the cheetah called "Clawhauser" took deep breaths, to try to recompose himself, and he said.

"J-just received another message from the officers in the bank… T-the rhino… he threw the security of the bank and two other animals at the streets! They are all alive, but they were injured, he told them to say to bring Alex Hunter fast, otherwise the next ones he would throw in the streets would be corpses!"

This made both Alex and Bogo pale a bit. "How bad are they?" Alex asked, and Clawhauser looked at him before saying.

"The bank's guard had some cuts and a broken arm and leg, the other ones only had minor injuries, and they are all been taken to the hospital now-"

"Clawhauser!" Bogo said, ready to reprehend his subordinate for giving information to a mammal who was currently under custody. The cheetah flinched a little, and Alex was now having an inner debate.

This guy, whoever it was, seemed to be ready to hurt innocents only to get what he wanted. If this rhino, or whatever, was really as violent and strong as they were making it seem, then it was most likely that everyone in that bank was in serious danger. Alex knew that he was already in trouble for trying to help others, but still, he felt like he could not simply back off and let some innocent get hurt, especially if it seemed that it was because of him.

"Go back to your desk! I'm going there now!" Bogo said, as he was turning to leave, but Alex said:

"Wait!"

Bogo and Clawhauser both stopped to look at him, "Let me go with you."

Bogo looked at him, and Alex continued, "I don't know this guy and I'm not sure of why he wants me, but maybe I can help."

Bogo looked at him, and he said, "Do you think I am stupid?"

"I just want to be there to help in case you can't take on him."

"Oh yeah, and then you can team up with him and you can both escape?"

"If I wanted to escape I could have done that already!" Alex nearly screamed at him in a feral way. "I have been working along with you all the time and I haven't tried to hurt any of you! And you know that I had chances to do so!"

Bogo looked at him, and them he looked down. Alex took this as a good sign, as he continued to talk. "I'm not a bad guy, I have been trying to show it all the time I have been here." He spoke as he looked at Bogo, and to buffalo looked up at him, and Alex looked at him as deep as possible in the eyes. "You said you had nothing against mammals like me. Well, this is your chance to prove your point. Show me that you trust me just a tiny bit."

There was a long silence as Bogo and Alex had their eyes locked, and Clawhauser was shifting his gaze from one to another. After a while, the buffalo looked away, and pinched the bridge of his muzzle. He let out a loud sigh as he said, "I must be losing my mind to consider this."

He turned to Alex, and he pulled out a pair of handcuffs. "Step away from the bars, turn around, and place your hands behind your back." His tone was firm, and it was showing that he was not going to take any crap from Alex, if he tried to pull out any.

Alex looked at him, and he obeyed, stepping away from the bars and the officers, turning his back to it, and placing his hands behind his back as he looked forward. He heard the door being unlocked and opened, heard the steps of the buffalo into the ground as he walked to him, and felt the grip of the cuffs, as they were close over his wrists.

Bogo placed a hand on his shoulder, and he said, "If you try to pull my leg, I'm going to break both of yours." It was a threat that the buffalo was not afraid of using, that much Alex could tell. Still, it didn't had that tune of despise and of near poison as many other people back in the human world (yes, Alex was referring to it his home world that now, as tacky as it sounded) gave him when they were calling him an "evo freak", or something of the like. It was just enough to make Alex realize that maybe the buffalo really didn't had problems with him having powers, but was still being careful enough not to drop his guard with him.

That was what Alex thought as the buffalo started to scout him pass the cells, and in direction to what Alex was sure that would be a very difficult situation…


	8. The Lightning Meets the Tornado

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex is brought to the bank, and there he is, about to confront the rhino.
> 
> In front of the bank, a fated battle will take place, that will shake the foundations of the world.

He walked back and forth, as he waited. It was a habit that he had developed years ago, since his youth, and that had already rendered him a lot of talk from the other people, all who claimed that he looked like a caged animal…

Well, he could almost laugh at the irony now…

He looked over to the other animals at the bank, all gathered into the corners as they continued to sit into the ground, and these two wolves were still looking at them as they had their weapons pointed at them. However, the wolves seemed to be more worried about him, as they continued to look at the rhino with eyes that almost looked to be fearful.

He snorted, as he looked into his watch.

Almost twenty minutes has already passed.

"Is he out there yet?" The rhino asked into a grumpy voice to the sheep who was watching the door. He was holding a gun, given to him by one of the wolves, but it was obvious by the way that he was holding it that he was not used to have a gun on his hands… or… paws at all! He was holding it wrong and he had his finger on the trigger even though he was not pointing it at anything.

"N-no boss!" Said the sheep as he continued to look outside, "Only the cops!"

The rhino snorted as he went back to walking back and forth. Why were they taking it so long?

He really thought that if he threw these wounded animals at the street it would induce them to go faster, but it seemed that it was not working. Maybe if he threw a corpse or two things would start to go faster. After all, this whole situation was already getting on his nerves. He wanted that Alex Hunter right in front of him so he could have a talk to him, man-to-man!

The rhino snorted again, as he was starting to consider that maybe what he heard about Alex Hunter could be wrong, and that he was not coming to play hero, like they said he liked to do. Or maybe the cops outside were not intending to give Alex Hunter to him, and they actually thought that they could actually manage to arrest him.

Bah! Let them come; he already dealt with police before! He put a lot of them in the hospital last time they tried to mess with him! Of course, in that time things were a lot different. Still, they felt strangely the same…

"How many cops are out there?" The rhino asked, "What are they?"

"W-well, sir…" The sheep said, looking outside and paying close attention to the cops out there, trying to make out their species and how many. "I see three tigers, two lions, an elephant, two rhinos, one polar bear, four wolves…"

The rhino grunted to himself as he heard that. For some reason, hearing the kinds of animals that were out there didn't actually scared him at all, not more than their numbers. He felt confident that he could take on them if there was the need, after all, he already proved to be good against two bears and a wolf…

"… And look who just arrived! The bunny and fox cops!" The sheep said.

The rhino's ears perked as he heard that.

Bunny…

"What!?" He said as he rushed to the door. He had to see it with his own eyes.

He almost pushed the sheep to the ground as he took a place by his side, looking at the place where he said that they were. He could see all the animals he described, a huge elephant, a few wolves, some tigers, lions, polar bears, all of them big and bulky. And then, in the middle of the bigger animals, he saw two small figures clad in blue. A grey bunny and a red fox.

They were both thin and very small in comparison to the others. The fox was around four feet tall, and the bunny girl was just one foot shorter.

The rhino looked at them for a few seconds, his left ear twitching a little, as he looked at them and he said, "You gotta be kidding me…"

They had sent a  _bunny_  after him!?

Seriously!?

He almost felt offended by this…

After a few seconds of looking, his eyes met the bunny's…

In that moment, he felt some kind of determination coming from her as she looked at him with a fierce expression. He almost recoiled when he saw the look she had in her eyes; he blinked and looked away. The BUNNY had made him look away! This thing was getting more and more messed up with each passing minute!

Talking about minutes, he looked again into his watch and he saw that there was only four minutes to the dead line that he had set. He snorted in anger, as he hated that they made him wait.

So, these cops thought that he was just messing with them? They thought that he would not have courage to kill these animals?

Oh, they were in for a surprise…

The rhino growled as he clenched his fists, and as he did, there was suddenly an increase of wind currents into the place, with a few pieces of paper flying around. All the other animals reflexively covered their heads, as if this was a sign of imminent disaster. Even the wolves flinched when they felt that wind that seemed to be coming right from the place where the rhino was. It did not helped that the rhino was looking at them with an angered expression as he was about to take a step into their direction.

"Boss! Boss!" That voice called the rhino away from his thoughts as he looked at the sheep, who was looking outside. "Another car just arrived! Someone is stepping out of it! It is a buffalo! I know that guy, he is the ZPD Precinct 1's police chief!"

This caught the rhino's attention. He looked at him, as the wind diminished in strength, and the other animals almost let out relieved sighs.

"The other cops are looking at him… now he is walking to the back of his vehicle… someone is coming out… and is handcuffed… Could it be… yes. Yes! It is the cougar!"

Once more, the sheep almost got shoved to the ground as the rhino was looking at the animal who just arrived. The cougar was clearly with his hands cuffed behind his back, and he was looking around as the others looked at him. The bulky buffalo with police uniform was holding his arm as if scouting him in direction to the place.

Narrowing his eyes as he looked at the animal who had just arrived. The animal that he wanted to see.

Alex Hunter…

* * *

The trip to the place took around fifteen minutes, apparently this "Furs National Bank" was away from the "ZPD" (Alex was somehow starting to get used to this) and once they were there, the buffalo pulled him out of the vehicle and had a strong grip into his arm as he walked with him in direction to the place. Alex looked around and he saw many animals in there, some of them were cops, but there were also many curious mammals, all looking from behind the blockers as they tried to get a glimpse of what was going on. Alex even saw a few teams of reporters in the place (what was not strange, since it was a bank robbery, of course, these hyenas would come there). Alex looked at the crews, as they were compose by some mixed species of animals; some of them were, ironically, hyenas…

"Fangmeyer! What is the status?" The buffalo demanded, calling Alex back from his examining of a news van that had the letter "ZNN" into it. He looked to see that the buffalo was talking to another office, a tiger, who talked back at him.

"We have a lot of cops out here ready to enter and teach a lesson to the guys in there. They still have hostages, though. We are not sure how many, but maybe around twenty. There is also confirmation of at least two armed wolves and a sheep helping that rhino. They seem to be violent; the animals they threw in the streets a while ago were seriously beat up. They said something about 'hurricanes' or something…" He continued to talk, and he stopped when he took a good look at Alex.

"Wait, aren't you-" He tried to say, but Bogo interrupted him.

"Do we know anything else about this rhino? His identity? His name?"

"No, nothing." The tiger said, and Bogo let out a sigh as he massaged the bridge of his nose again. Alex looked at him, and he wondered if they were actually going to have any short of information about this rhino. What Alex doubted, if his suspicions were right…

"Okay, thank you." He said, and he pulled Alex once more, making the cougar follow him as he walked around the place. He was trying to take a good sight of everything, and trying to see if he could do anything to help his subordinates. As he walked, he saw that Wilde and Hopps were already in there, and that they were both focusing into the place, looking to be planning what to do next.

Alex looked at them as they passed, and as they did, Nick took a double look to see him, and he adopted a surprised expression. Judy noticed it, she looked back, and she saw the cougar being scouted by Bogo. Needless to say, they were both surprised to see that the cougar was there. They were pretty sure that Bogo was going to have a talk with him, but bringing him to the scene?

They shared another look, and they raced to their boss. "Chief!" Judy said, making Bogo stop and look at her, as well as Alex. He locked eyes with the bunny cop for a moment, before she broke the contact and looked at Bogo.

"Chief, what… why?" She asked, and Nick soon arrived, and he said:

"Don't tell me that we are just going to give him the cougar?"

"Not a chance, Wilde." Bogo said, and he said, "Mr. Hunter here insisted to come."

"He did, huh?" Judy asked, and she looked at him, "And, why was that?"

Alex would have slapped his own face if his hands weren't cuffed behind his back. "For the love of… I came because since you are fighting someone like that rhino, I thought that maybe I could be useful."

"So, you know that rhino?"

"Oh, not that again!" Alex said exasperated, and soon, there was a commotion into the doors of the bank.

"You! Don't move!"

"No, please! I'm a hostage!"

Their eyes went back to the scene as they saw an animal being raise by the cops and brought forth. It was a goat, he seemed to be really shaken, and he was limping, as if his leg was bad. As he got closer, it was possible to notice that the goat was hurt. He had a line of blood running down his head, and he seemed to have a blackened eye.

"He said he wants the cougar!" The goat cried out as they carried him. "He said that the cougar must go inside alone, otherwise he will kill everyone inside!"

The four animals heard what he was saying, and this made them truly worried as they watched the goat being take to the paramedics. They shared a look among themselves, and after a while, Alex took a deep breath. He knew what was needed to be done, and he knew that he had to do it. Even if every single instinct of his being told him that it was probably a bad idea.

"I gotta go inside." Alex said, prompting every mammal around to look at him. But Alex barely even noticed, he was too focused into Bogo, who looked right back at him with a raised eyebrow and a serious expression as he and Alex had another staring contest.

After a few seconds, the buffalo said, "You really think that I'm going to let you go inside?"

"Why not?" Alex asked, still looking into his eyes. "You already brought me here…"

"Bringing you here with me to watch over you is one thing." Bogo said, putting a hooved-finger into Alex chest. "Another is letting you go into a building alone with some other meta mammal with unknown intents."

"Meta what?" Alex asked, and Nick chimed in:

"It is how we call you guys." This made Alex look at him, "Sounds like something from a comic book, doesn't it?"

Alex looked back at him, and he was about what he meant by "animals like him", but Bogo interrupted. "You are not going in there, and that is final!"

"So we will just sit around and wait for him to kill someone!?" Alex said, almost sounding outraged by this. "I wanted to come here because I wanted to help!"

"So you go in there and what? You and the rhino have a chat and you convince him to let the hostages all go?"

"I can think of something!" Alex said, he looked dead in the eyes of the buffalo, and he said, "I just want to prevent someone from getting seriously hurt! What I think it is the same you want, right?"

"Don't play games with me…" Bogo warned him, pressing a finger harder on his chest, almost to the point of hurting. "I have a serious situation in here, and I'm trying to make sure that everyone will get out of there alive."

"So do I!" Alex said; the volume of their conversation was increasing as it went on, and it was starting to attract looks of the other officers, and even of the nearby news crews.

"Why are you so interested into helping these animals, if I may ask?" Bogo said, sounding almost accusing as he looked at Alex, and for a moment, Alex eyes flashed in blue as small lightnings danced on his hands behind his back. He was very close at giving that buffalo a shock he would remember for the rest of his life…

"For the same reason because I saved these animals into the mall!" He said, "For the same reason that I risked myself and exposed myself instead of lowering my head and pretending it wasn't with me! Because it is the right thing to do!"

Bogo stopped a moment, and he looked into the eyes of the cougar, as if he was looking for any sign of deception. However, this did not stopped Alex from talking.

"Long ago, someone dear to me needed help, and no one was there to help." He said, and he continued to look at Bogo. "This person taught me that if a person needs help, then you can give help. This person taught me that if you have what it takes to help someone, then you have to do it for a person. This is what makes you different from other people. Because some people need help, and if you can help, then you have to help."

Alex continued to look at him, as everyone else looked at Alex, and he continued, "You don't do that because you want to appear, or because you want something in return. You do it because you feel that it is right. Because it is only natural to want to help the others when you have the chance. Because this is what makes us…" Alex stopped, he was about to say "human", but he had a second thought, and instead, he said something that he had the feeling that felt right. "That is what makes us heroes."

There was a huge moment of silence, as Bogo looked at him, and after a while, he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose again. This seemed to be almost turning into a habit of him today. The buffalo looked around, and he saw many animals looking at both him and the cougar, all of them seemed to be expecting his next words.

Bogo looked back at the cougar, who was staring at him, and then he said, "Fine…"

Two minutes later, Alex was in position, in between the police cars, facing the bank, as a wolf was speaking on a megaphone. "We are sending him in! He is alone, just like you requested!"

Alex looked ahead; as he knew full well that he was, most likely, putting himself into some serious problem. He was about to go to an unknown place, entering into a building that had someone with powers, just like him, and who seemed to be ready to hurt people only to have Alex in front of him.

This said a lot about the situation, and still, Alex found himself ready to go straight at it, as if it was something that he would do every day. Alex sighed, as he looked forward, and he was ready to take a step forward, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He looked back to see chief Bogo once more, and for a moment, he thought that the buffalo had changed his mind and was not going to let him go in there. However, the buffalo surprised him by moving out of his field of vision. Next, Alex heard two clicks, as he got his wrists released from the handcuffs.

Alex massaged his wrists as he looked back at the buffalo, who said, "You are walking into trouble, so I guess that you might need your hands." And quickly he added, "If you cross me, I'll put you and that rhino together into a cell that is so small that when you feel an itch in your head and try to scratch it, you won't know if you are scratching your head or his'."

That sounded somewhere between a threat and a promise, and Alex decided that it was better not to push his luck with that buffalo. So, he simply nodded, after all, it was not like he was simply going to team up with this guy, whoever he was. Bogo walked away, and Alex saw himself alone facing the bank.

He took another deep breath, remembering himself that he why he was doing it.

It was the right thing.

Alex knew it, and that was the thought that gave him strength to summon up some courage and look forward, as he started to take the first steps in direction to the doors of the bank.

All the eyes were on him as he walked in direction to the bank with all the confidence that he could muster. Many of them were recognizing him as the "lightning cougar" who was all over the internet this morning. Some didn't knew him, and simply looked at the brave cougar that was walking in direction to the bank, ready to do… God-knows-what. Some of them really knew him, like Nick, Judy, and Bogo, and they looked at him as he walked in direction to the bank, all of them unsure of what was going to happen, but hoping for the best.

As Alex walked, he felt a million questions and doubts coming onto his head, all at the same time. However, he didn't had time for them now, as he knew that he had to focus on what was happening now. So he pushed them all aside as he finally reached the revolving door, and he entered.

He saw that the place was big in the inside, and it was imposing. Surely, it was one important bank, as it was seem by the decoration in the inside, and it was surely an old building, if you were to assume that the architecture of things was the same as the Human World. Alex looked over, and he soon saw the hostages.

They were sitting in the floor, and they were clearly distressed, as many of them still had impressions of fear in their faces as they were there, sitting in the corners of the place. They were different species, but none bigger than a bull. Watching over them, were two wolves in black with AK47s, both of them were looking at the cougar as he walked inside. As he saw their clothes and weapons, Alex clicked into a memory of earlier.

Could it be…

"Alex Hunter!" The deep and strong voice suddenly called Alex back, and he turned around to see another two animals. One of them was a sheep who was holding a gun into his direction. He had black wool and was wearing white colored clothes, and his eyes were horizontal lines like the ones in sheep from the Human World, and they were green colored. He had an expression of fear as he looked at the cougar, as it was possible to notice by the way that the gun he was holding was trembling.

By the other side, was a much more imposing animal.

He was a rhino, big and bulky, taller than Alex was, and more muscled too. He had strong arms, and he had a thick skin that was light gray in color. He was wearing a blue-colored polo t-shirt and black jeans pants. On his face was one imposing horn that looked to be very sharp and that could make a good damage if he actually charged. Past the horn, Alex could take a good look into the eyes of the rhino, which were hazelnut-colored and were looking at Alex with an expression that was almost of anger.

 _So, this is the rhino…_ Alex thought as he looked at the big animal. He wasn't sure if he should recognize him or not, considering all that had happened, but Alex knew that, looking at the rhino, he doesn't looked familiar to him at all. Alex was pretty sure that this was the first time he ever saw his face…

"I heard a lot about you…" The rhino said as he take a step forward, and as he did, Alex instinctively took a step back. The rhino continued to walk on his direction as Alex walked backwards, as if to keep a certain distance between him and that rhino. As he did, the other animals all were looking at them now.

"Well, I suppose you did…" Alex said.

"You look a little different from what I expected." The rhino said, as they both now were far from the door, and had the eyes of all the other mammals in there.

"Yeah, I guess you can say that…" Alex said, "I have been changing a bit lately… And you are?"

The rhino snorted at him, and Alex immediately said, "What? You know who I am and I just want to know who you are! It is only fair, right?"

The rhino narrowed his eyes at him, and he clenched his fists, as if he was ready to charge at Alex. The cougar instinctively unsheathed his claws, as if ready to fight. After a few moments, the rhino seemed to calm down, and he seemed to be thinking about it. After a while, he let out what sounded like a defeated sigh, and he said, "My name is Finn."

"Finn what?"

The rhino snorted, and after a few seconds he said, "Rhinehart."

Alex looked at him.  _Finn Rhinehart_. The name sounded familiar to him, but Alex could not point out exactly from where, but he remembered that was not good…

"Now, I think it is time for we to go to the point here, don't you think?" He said as he started to walk, almost as if he was circling the cougar. Alex instinctively started to mimic his movements, keeping that rhino into his line of sight all the time. Alex felt the need to, since there was really something about him that made Alex feel very worried, as if there was something serious about him that gave him creeps…

"Yeah, I guess so… You wanted me to come here. Well, I'm here. What is it that you want from me?"

The rhino continued to look at him, almost evaluating him, as he said, "Well, you were actually the only one that I could think about." He said, almost as if he was resigning. "After all, you were the only one that I was sure that was in there, and the only one that I heard about since I woke up here."

This surely caught Alex attention, and he looked at him as he stopped.

The rhino stopped too, seeing that he had called Alex's attention, and he was actually able to smirk. "I didn't knew very much how to call your attention. But luckily, I remembered that Stoats had mentioned how much you loved playing hero…"

That was it.

The confirmation of Alex's suspicious.

"You…" He said, as he looked at the rhino. "You were there."

The rhino looked back at him and nodded. "Yeah, I was there. I was one of the guys that Stoats brought in case that you went there and brought some friends with you." He said, as now he was walking in Alex direction again, and Alex once more was walking behind, to keep the distance.

All the alarms in Alex's head were ringing, telling him to be ready to fight. His heart rate accelerated and his muscles tensed. Without realizing it, there were already a few sparks of lightning jumping in between his fingers.

"He said it would be simple. Keeping you and your friends at bay, while he finished what he was doing, and then I would get some money." The rhino said as he continued to walk in Alex's direction, and Alex could swear that there suddenly were drafts into the room, ruffing his fur. "It really seemed simple, even though some of your friends had some neat tricks…"

The rhino seemed to be becoming angrier as he continued to talk. "That was when all went south… The building whole shook, and the next thing I knew as that I was spinning into some strange place. Then there was that burning feeling all over my body…" He clenched his fists, and the drafts become stronger.

"I black out for a while, and when I wake up, I'm in some kind of forest, and I discover that this forest is actually part of some kind of 'jungle-like city'." He said as his voice was becoming louder with each phrase, as if he was getting ready to burst. "And as if this is not strange enough… I suddenly realize that now I HAVE A HORN IN MY FACE!"

Alex immediately raised his paw, covered in electricity, but the rhino was faster than him. He made a movement with his arm, and Alex felt himself blown away by a powerful gust of wind.

Alex tumbled into the ground as the wind proved to be just as strong as a hurricane, and Alex was dazed for a moment.

All the other animals backed away and recoiled in fear, as the rhino was once again looking at the cougar and he walked in his direction, his expression showed that he was pissed…

Alex was able to recover enough to see the great form of the rhino walking in his direction, a strong wind coming from him as he walked in Alex's direction. The cougar had to think fast, and he raised his paw and a lightning jumped from it. However, since Alex was still dazed, it missed the rhino by two feet, but it was still enough to make him jump, as if made the little fur he had on his body stand to end.

The rhino snorted angrily at him, and made a movement with his arms, and Alex suddenly felt himself blown to the side. He felt like he was spinning, almost like if he was into a true hurricane, as he was now dizzy and becoming more and more disoriented. Alex landed heavily into the ground, and rolled in it as his head was still spinning from that.

As Alex tried to put his head in order again, the rhino once more was walking on his direction. His face a mask of anger as he walked to the cougar, wind coming from him and ruffing the fur of most of the mammals in the room, who all were cornering in fear as they looked at that strange rhino.

Alex took a few seconds to be able to put his head back in place, and he looked back, to see that the rhino was standing at just a few feet of him.

His first reaction was to try to shock the rhino, so he raised his paw. But once more, the rhino was faster than him. The bulky mammal only thrust both his arms forward, and once more Alex was blow again, this time, he actually was being raise from the ground. This time, however, Alex was able to hold on to something.

He was blow in direction to the cashiers, and Alex was able to hold into the glass of one of them. While this prevented Alex from being flung away, it failed to give him stability, as he was twisting in the air, as the wind seemed to be trying to make him spin again. Alex could only hear the howling of the wind on his ears as he tried to keep track of what was happening.

Alex was able to catch the voice of the rhino again.

"Usually I would go looking for stoats!" He said, and Alex was barely able to hear him past the wind, but he continued, "But since I don't know where he is now, I had to resort to the first one that I could find! And that was you!" He continued to say, as Alex was finally able to focus enough to look at him. The rhino had a hand outstretched and opened in his direction, as if he was sending the wind on his direction.

"So, since you are here, I guess that I can have my answers from you! Starting by what the hell is this place!?" He cried out. Alex snarled, and he outstretched his own hand, and a lightning flew from it. However, due to the wind, Alex was unable to aim, and his lightning missed him by almost ten feet, landing in the ground.

Alex tried again, but the constantly spinning wind made it hard for him to keep his arm straight to have a clear aim of that rhino.

The rhino snorted as the cougar continued to try to hit him with his lightnings, while the other animals all cornered, as now they were afraid of becoming victim of a stray lightning.

"You still trying to do this?" The rhino demanded, and he snorted, "You are just like Stoats' said!" he said as he walked in direction to the cougar, and stopped at what he considered to be a safe distance from his lightnings.

Alex looked at him, and as he looked, he noticed that the rhino now was placing his other hand, the one that wasn't stretched in his direction, into a metal handrail. Alex looked at this handrail, and saw that it made the way all up to the cashier he was in...

"Now if you are done acting like this, I think I would really like those answers now…" The rhino said, but Alex barely paid attention to him, because in that moment, he was focused into that handrail. After a few seconds, Alex was finally able to lay his whole paw into it.

Immediately, sparks flew from the corners of the handrail, as if small bombs were exploding into them, and the next thing that the rhino know was that he felt an electric shock on his arm and traveling all through his body.

Alex had just used the metal handrail as a conduit to send his electricity straight at the rhino.

Said rhino was immediately shocked as small lightnings connected his hand to the handrail as he let go of it. He was propelled to the side by around ten feet, and he laid in the ground, shaking slightly as he seemed to be trying to get up again.

As he went to the ground, the wind stopped, and Alex landed (a bit painfully, by the way) into the cashier, and he finally had a time to breathe. He looked at the rhino, still shaking into the ground, but he seemed that he was going to get back up, as he was still trying. Alex looked at the sides, at all the hostages who were in there. They all looked back at him with amazed expressions.

They were all in danger. That guy was going to get back up, and Alex knew it. They had to get out of there now!

"Get out of the building!" Alex said as he looked to all of them. "Get out of here! Go outside! Now!"

The animals took a second or two to be able to understand what the cougar said, and less than that to start obey, especially as they saw that the rhino was already starting to get back on his feet, despite he was still shaking as he struggled to get back on his feet.

Even the wolves, who were armed, shared a look among themselves, before removing their weapons, dropping them to the ground, and rushing as fast as they could to the exit. The sheep had already beat them to it, as he was the first to get out by the nearest revolving door.

* * *

Outside, the cops were all there, and soon, the S.W.A.T had just arrived, with their armed guys taking place right next to the cops.

Razorback went to Bogo.

"You are late." The buffalo said, and the boar shrugged.

"Some problems with the bosses. They wanted to know what all the fuss was about, and I wasn't sure of what to say to them. I came up with an excuse."

Bogo nodded, and Razorback asked. "So, what is the situation?"

"Hunter went in there."

The boar looked at the buffalo surprised. He was about to say something, when suddenly the revolving doors of the bank started to spin, and many mammals were going outside.

"Don't move!"

"On the ground!"

"Hold your fire! Everyone!"

"Please, we are the hostages!" A wolf in black said as he rushed to the officers with raised hands. Followed by many other mammals who were all saying similar things about being a hostage.

The animals all looked as the animals came out and were attended by the officers and taken away from the scene. Bogo looked as he saw all of the hostages walking away from danger.

Well, it seemed that Alex Hunter was a friend after all. Maybe he owned him some apologizes…

* * *

"You…" the rhino snarled as he looked at the cougar with murder on his eyes. Alex looked back at him, and the rhino said.

"You brat! You'll pay for this!" As he spoke, the wind started to get stronger. "I'm going to kill you!"

"If you do you will still have to deal with all the guards out there!" Alex said, and the rhino snorted.

"You think I care? I put twenty cops into the hospital the last time I took hostages!"

Alex looked at him, and suddenly, it clicked into his mind. He remembered where he knew the name Finn Rhinehart from...

It was the name of an wanted evo, some that was searched for several crimes in which he took hostages, and in all the occasions someone end up hurt. Alex had heard about him and he had also heard that he was very inclined to violence. He also had heard that he had powers of wind manipulation.

Alex had not put two and two together before when Bogo talked about the wind powers, but now, he knew exactly who this guy was. He turned particularly more wanted recently, because during his last "work" he had hurt a lot of civilians and police officers; seven of them had not survived.

That guy was violent, he was strong, and he didn't cared very much for who got hurt as long as he was able to get what he wanted, and he had been hired by Stoats.

Why Alex was not surprised?

The rhino snorted as he growled loud, raising both of his fists into the air as the wind got stronger. Alex looked at him as the papers and small objects started to fly around the room, and he electrified both of his arms as he looked at that rhino.

* * *

"Well, it looks like all the hostages are safe." Razorback said, after a few moments of silence, and he added, "Does this means that we are clear to enter?"

Bogo turned to him, and he was about to say something, when they noticed that people around were focused on the bank again. Looking over, the two animals could see that now the revolving doors were spinning on their own, and at increasing speed. They also noticed what seemed to be flashes of light coming from inside the building, and the windows started to move as if there was a huge gust of wind making them fight to stay in their ridges…

It continued, with the doors spinning faster as a wind came from them, and the windows were trembling harder, starting to crack.

Many animals looked at it scare, some of them even taking a few steps back, as suddenly, the doors were rip out form the ridges, and the glass panels and windows all exploded, making glass fly as if a powerful wind current was blowing them. Said wind current knocked some of the bigger animals in there from their feet, came out of the place, just like some objects like a few objects and even one or two pieces of the decoration, and a familiar cougar that soon was rolling into the ground.

Alex panted as he stopped into the ground. His head was still spinning, and he tried to get back on his feet as the wind continued to blow. It was weaker now, but this was changing as soon as another figure walked out of the bank. The rhino had a very pissed look on his face as he looked at the cougar, and as he walked, papers, dust, and small objects were flying around him, almost forming what seemed to be a miniature hurricane focused into the location of the rhino, with him being right on its center.

Everyone, after recovering from the scare, was now looking at the rhino. Some of them tried to aim their weapons at him, but they were pushed back as the rhino made a swiping gesture with his arm, making the hurricane around himself strengthen for a moment as a gust of wind blew in all directions.

Police officers were send to the ground, with smaller animals being almost blow away. Nick and Judy themselves would have been blown away if they hadn't immediately dove for protection behind their cruiser. Alex had to find a good footing to avoid being blow away again, which was very hard, because he was the one that was the closest to the rhino in the moment he generated that current of wind.

Alex was able to raise his eyes to look at the rhino, who looked back at him. The rhino made another movement, and a strong gust of wind was focused specifically into Alex, causing him to be blown back a few feet. Alex now was closer to the cruisers, and the rhino seemed to be focused now only on him, as he walked in his direction.

"Hey, you! Freeze!" Some cops and members of the swat cried, and the rhino, without even turning to look at them, made a movement with his arm in their direction, liberating a powerful wind current that made many of them lose their balance and fall to the ground. Meanwhile, Alex was recovering his footing, and he was looking at the rhino who approached him. As he did, Alex's eyes glowed in a bluish-white color, while white streaks of lightning jumping across his arms. Alex snarled at him, while the rhino visibly snorted at him, they seemed ready to resume their battle from inside the bank.

As they did this, Nick and Judy peeked their heads from behind their cruiser, and Nick said, "Well, that escalated quickly…" He could sincerely think of nothing better to say. Judy, however, forgot the words and jumped into action. She pointed her dart-gun at the rhino and fired a few darts on his direction.

However, these darts never got to make contact with the rhino, for as they approached, the wind that was spinning and howling around the rhino reduced their speed and deflected them, making them join the other small debris that were flying around him. The rhino, in turn, noticed it when he saw the darts spinning, and he quickly looked over, in time to see that bunny officer with a gun pointed in his direction.

He looked at her with a surprised expression for a few moments, which was quickly replaced by one of anger when he realized that the small creature had tried to dart him. He snorted loudly, and he was about to send a gust of wind in her direction, when he felt something shock him in the side of his body.

Alex saw that the rhino was about to attack Hopps, and immediately, he focused a small lightning in the palm of his hand, and shot it into the body of the rhino, aiming to disable him.

However, it seemed that the charge was too low, for the rhino simply cried out as he clutched his side, and he looked at Alex, and quickly realized what the cougar had done, and this only caused him to become angrier. He let out a bellowing-like sound as the wind around him became stronger, and it was howling, as it was now harder for Alex to keep his footing, as he was starting to be forced back as he struggled to keep in place, but the wind as just too strong. It howled into his ears and it made even hard for Alex to keep his eyes open, as he was forced to cover his face with one arm to protect himself from the winds.

The animals around also felt the increase into the force of the wind, as many of them now were shielding their faces as dust and small debris, like pebbles and some objects from the inside of the bank, were coming in their direction. Some of them had trouble keeping their ground, and some of them were forced to the ground and were actually being pushed away. With the strong wind, it was very hard, almost impossible, for them to have a clear aim of the rhino so they could shot him.

Judy and Nick were both still hiding behind their cruiser, and they nearly had to shout so their voices would be above the howling of the wind. "I bet the guy from weather at the news didn't predicted this!"

"Nick, what do we do now?"

"I don't know!" Nick said back at Judy, "The wind is too strong to hit him with darts, and also his skin is too thick, and with that wind the others can't have a good aim!" Nick peered his head from behind the cruiser, and so did Judy. They could see Alex hunter being forced backwards, almost hurled, as the rhino continued to walk on his direction. As he did, a few cruisers were forced out of the way by the barrier of swirling wind that surrounded the rhino, and it indeed looked very much like a hurricane.

Judy looked very intently at it, and then, he raised her eyes to look up, and she saw that the thing looked like a miniature hurricane, including from above... Suddenly, a form of inspiration hit her. It was probably a crazy idea, so crazy that it was possible that it could actually work!

"Nick, I have a plan!" Judy said to her partner, who listened to her.

Meanwhile, Alex was currently being used as a plaything for the rhino, who was now using the wind to make the cougar float back and forth, throwing him like he was a ragdoll. Alex even tried to focus his lightnings at him, however, the constant motion made it impossible for him to aim correctly, with many of his lightnings not getting even close to the location that the rhino was in, and some of them actually came closer to hitting the other animals around than the rhino.

Alex felt dizzy and completely disoriented at that rhino who was playing some kind of twisted game with him. He didn't knew how he didn't threw up. All the while, the rest of the animals was still unable to help, for the winds that the rhino was letting on didn't let them approach or aim properly, and if they threatened to get too close, he would give a good gust of wind in their direction with a simple wave of his arm.

"Do you like it, Hunter?" The rhino asked him, showing to have some clear pleasure into knowing that he was making the cougar suffer, "Do you like the power of the wind? Maybe next time you will think twice before attacking a hurricane with a thunder!"

"What!? Carrots, I think the wind is howling way too much! Because there is no way that you have really said that your plan is what I heard you say!" Nick said, completely baffled by Judy's idea, and he was hoping, actually praying, for it was not what he thought he understood. But a quickly look at Judy's face was enough for him to know that it was truly what he had understood, and that he didn't mistook it.

"Nope! No! Hu-uh! This is a bad idea! Maybe the worst in the story of bad ideas!" Nick said.

"We have to do it, it might be the only way!"

"This is insanity!"

"It might be our only chance of stopping him before he hurts anybody!"

Nick looked at her, and he looked at the rhino, who was still playing with the cougar, before dropping him into the ground. The cougar tried to stand, but soon he was forced backwards. He rolled into the ground, and he was still trying to get up, but the rhino seemed that he wasn't done playing with the cougar, as soon he was making the cougar be dragged by the ground by strong currents of wind.

The cougar was unable to properly react to him, and the wind still didn't let the other officers help, and the small hurricane was still around him, protecting form smaller objects. At this rate, it was clear that the cougar was not going to last very longer, and as soon as he was done with the cougar, what would the rhino do next? Turn to them? To the civilians?

By the way, what were all of them still doing in there? Everyone was just looking at that scene as if it was the latest episode of Game of Bones, many of them taking pictures, filming it with their carrot phones…

Nick let out a sigh, as he turned back to Judy, and saw the expression in her eyes, and he knew that there was no way that he was going to talk her out of doing that.

"You know that if you make one mistake, then you are going to get hurt, don't you!?"

"We have to try!"

Nick knew that she was right, and they had to try it now, otherwise Alex Hunter wouldn't be alive for long.

Alex just stopped being dragged by the ground by the wind, and he was sure that he had lost more than just a few tuffs of fur in the process. He was shaken, and his stomach and head both felt as if they were still spinning. He looked over, and he saw that the rhino was still walking in hi direction, and he seemed to be laughing, saying something about "blowing him to the next city", or something of the like.

Alex was having difficulty to understand for his head was way too messed up, he barely had enough balance at the moment to raise his arms to shot a lightning at him. Alex was only able to look at him, and as he did, he noticed some short of movement in a corner of his eyes, behind the rhino, at a police cruiser that was particularly smaller than the rest. He saw the familiar form of a fox and a bunny.

Nick and Judy fought to keep their footing with so much wind, but they were able to keep it. Nick looked back at Judy, and they both nodded. Nick put his hands together and lowered in front of his body, while Judy looked at him, and breathed deeply. She ran to him, and jumped, and she landed with both feet into his hands.

Right into that moment, Nick pushed her up with all the strength his arms could muster, while Judy jumped as hard as she could.

The result, she was propelled high into the air, what soon made many of the animals look at her as she went up.

She had a little trouble to keep herself steady, but it was easy as soon as she reached a bigger altitude, and soon she saw herself right where she wanted: right above the rhino.

The wall of wind that was around him truly looked like a hurricane, what meant that it had one weak spot: up above, the eye of the hurricane, where the wind was the weakest. Judy was about to take advantage of that.

All the eyes were on her as she was just above the rhino, with Bogo and Razorback both looking baffled and even Alex was looking at her with wide-eyes and a slightly slacked jaw. The rhino noticed the strange look into the cougar's face, and he went to look, in time to see that bunny cop diving into him coming from above. She had passed through his wind barrier! And now she was coming to him with a baton ready to strike into his face!

His immediate reaction was to get ready to deliver a blast of wind at her, and so, he pulled his arm back, ready to blow her out of that city and into the stratosphere! However, as he did so, he lowered his guard, and that was the opening that Alex needed.

He focused a very small lightning, and shot it right into the rhino's back. It was all he could do in his state of dizziness, but it was enough, for it made the rhino tremble and cry out as his arms reflexively went to his back, trying to reach that point, leaving his face completely unprotected.

That was just the opening that Judy needed, as she landed into the rhino's chest, swinging her baton with all the strength that she could, and landing it right into the rhino's temple.

The bigger animal let out a pained groan as he was hit, and soon after, he was falling to the ground, while Judy jumped off him.

After the rhino dropped to the ground, there was a long moment of silence, as Judy panted heavily, and everyone else recovered and tried to make a sense of what had just happened. The officers and members of the SWAT all were recovering from the gusts of wind, Bogo and Razorback both looked stunned, and Alex was starting to recover enough to be able to get back on his feet. All of that while they were being watched by a few dozens of mammals who all looked at them with several different expression, but the most common was one of shock and wonder.

The cougar panted, as he tried his best to keep standing. That had been very taxing, for it was the first time that he ever faced someone with these kinds of abilities in his life. Still, Alex was sure that he did well, considering all of the conditions, after all, he was still alive, wasn't him? But… he had not survived on his own.

He looked over at the bunny officer, and he walked in her direction. By picking his movement, she turned to him, and she seemed ready to fight, as she raised the baton, but Alex quickly raised his hands.

"Oh! Calm down." He said, and waited a few more seconds before approaching her, and he said, "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." Judy said, lowering the baton, and Alex nodded.

"Good to know. That was quite a clever move. Well played."

"Thanks." Judy said, and she took a look at him, "And you? Are you hurt?"

Alex took a moment to answer, as he tried to stretch his body, and found out that maybe one or two of his muscles were sprained. "I'll live." He said, as he massaged his body, and Judy nodded at him.

"Who is him?" she said as she looked at the unconscious rhino, and Alex said:

"Someone very dangerous." Alex said nothing more, and he looked around, at all the people that were looking at him. Not at  _them_ , at  _him_. Alex knew that well enough, and he knew that they were going to make a lot of questions. Even though some of them could be answered by these guys of tv crews pointing their cameras at him…

Bogo sighed as he looked at them. At least it seemed that the situation was under control, with the dangerous meta mammal being now under control. Of course, there was still the problem of how to actually imprison someone with such abilities. Well, he was sure that Savage could take care of that, after all, he was the one that he should call if these situations arrived.

But, of course, there was a much more serious issue at the matter.

There were a lot of mammals in there, all of them with recording devices, and not the mention the tv crews. They all were with their cameras pointed at Hunter, and they all had, most likely, filmed at least a part of the battle that had ensued. This meant that they had a lot of work ahead of them…

Sighing, Bogo walked to the nearest tv crew, the one that seemed to be of the ZNN. "Hey, you two!" He said with a booming voice, and they both turned to him. Both the tigress and the camel who held the camera. The buffalo walked to them and he said:

"Turn off the camera and hand over the footage, we are going to need it as evidence." He said, using pretty much the same excuse that he used to confiscate the electronic equipment at the mall. Bogo just hoped that they would not make many questions or complain about the "infringement of the press liberty", since Bogo knew that taking footage from a tv crew was different than taking the carrot phone form a civilian.

"W-we are not using footage, sir…" The tigress said as she looked at the buffalo. "We are live…"

Bogo groaned, as his worst fears had just confirmed. Of course that the news of a bank robbery would be transmitted on live. That was why Bogo wanted to keep all of the tv crews away from that place, as well as any civilians. Bogo didn't even bothered to go to the other tv crews, it was obvious that they all were on live too, what meant that the events that had just unfolded in there had been transmitted in a live feed for God-knows-how-many mammals.

If the silence cone had not fallen before, than now it most definitely had. He could now only wait for the call that he was going to receive from Savage after this all was done…

* * *

Everyone was now looking at Bogo as he was talking to the tv crews, including Judy and Alex. So, none of them noticed when the rhino started to move again.

He groaned very slightly as his head throbbed and he tried to raise on his arms and knees. His mind could barely process what had just happened.

A  _bunny_  had knocked him out…

He looked at the cougar and bunny, and saw that they both had their backs turned at him. He felt an urge to attack them, but his good sense told him that he already had gotten into enough trouble for now. The throbbing pain in his head was telling him that it was better to take a retreat now and come back later. After all, he didn't wanted to test his luck anymore, not with some many against him.

He used the fact that they were with their backs turned to him, so he got back on his feet, despite his throbbing pain on his head, as he walked a few steps, and controlled the winds. However, it seemed to have no effect.

He grunted and tried gain, this time with more strength, and this time, he even jumped a little, and he was raised from the ground by a few moments, but eventually he fall back to the ground. This caused a sound that both Judy and Alex caught, as they turned around, and saw that the rhino was now getting up. And they weren't the only ones to notice it.

"Of course I'm heavier now…" The rhino said in an angry snarl as he got back on his feet.

"Hey, you!" Judy cried, but the rhino snorted as he made a gesture with his arm in their direction. BY seeing this, Alex, drove by instinct, immediately jumped at Judy and hugged her against his body, as they were both propelled backwards.

As they went on, the rhino tried again, this time with much more strength, then a powerful wind started to blow around him, and soon, he was raise from the ground. Instead of falling right back, like one would expect, instead he continued to go up, spinning slightly into the air as he went.

Everyone soon was looking in shock at the rhino who was actually  _flying_!

Everyone looked stunned at it for a few moments, and Bogo looked back at his men, who were all looking at him as if he was the most interesting thing in the world.

"What are you waiting for!?" Bogo cried out, making some of his men snap out of it, and they all looked at him. "The suspect is escaping!" He said as he pointed to the rhino into the air. The officers only took a moment to register it, as soon they were all pointing their guns at the rhino, and trying to take aim.

"You too, ladies!" Razorback said to his own men, after he too snapped out of this, and his men did the same, and soon, they all were trying to get a good aim at the rhino. However, it was hard, for he was spinning in circles as he flew, and soon, he was getting out of reach.

He floated in direction to the crowd, which parted and started to disband once they saw him approaching, but didn't disbanded fast enough as he approached, and landed right in the middle of the crowd, making many animals back away several steps when they saw him. He snarled, angry that he was only able to go for a short distance, and he looked around, searching for another way out.

He soon saw another animal, another rhino, around his own size, right next to a car.

"Hey, you!" He said, walking to him, the rhino yelped, and tried to the car, fitting the key in and trying to open it. But he was not fast enough, for the other rhino reached him and pushed him out of the way.

Quickly, he entered the car and started it. It took him less than ten seconds to get everything ready and to start to drive the car away from that place.

He adjusted the rearview mirror, looking at the scene behind him, and saying, between clenched teeth.

"Some other day, Hunter… Some other day…"

* * *

"Go after him!" Bogo commanded, and soon the police officers were going in direction to the crowd, aiming attention specifically at the area that seemed that the rhino had landed.

As they went, Bogo took deep breaths, and he heard a voice near him.

"This… this is… I don't even know what just happened but… I can assure it, it  _did_  happened!" The tigress said as the camera once more was turned to her, and Bogo sighed.

Well, it seemed that now there was definitely no going back. He looked over at the cougar, who was holding Hopps in his arms, and they both seemed slightly dazed.

"Judy!" Nick said as he ran to them, and the rabbit looked at him, still a bit dizzy.

"I'm fine!" She said as her fox partner helped her off the arms of Alex, who was sighing as he was sitting on the ground, and he was still trying to relax, now that it seemed that it all was finally over.

But Alex knew better.

He knew that he had a fight with another evo (who had been turned from a human into an anthropomorphic animal, just like him) in front of several people, and in front of tv cameras.

Things were far from over, and Alex knew it.

They were barely even starting…

 

 

 

 

 

 


	9. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the events of the mall, it was only a matter of hours before everyone was wanting to know more about Alex and about the things that he could do.  
> Slightly wounded from the battle, Alex is taken to the hospital, to be examined and treated, and soon, Alex finally starts to give some explanations (on his best abilities) to the ones in there...
> 
> On a related matter, this story willl ahve a lot of headcanons that were made by some friends of mine in DeviantArt. The thing of milk shown in this chapter is actually a headcanon made by TheHook1, a talented and very creative writer from Deviantart, with a lot of interesting headcanons. Go check him out, the guy is good.

"Okay, everyone! We air in fifty seconds!"

"Do we have the teleprompter ready?"

"Just finish the make up already!"

"Okay, everybody get ready! We will air in thirty seconds, and this might be the biggest story that we have had in our lives!"

"Checking the cameras… all good!"

"The illumination is good!"

"Didn't we finished the make up already? Someone please reduce the lights a bit!"

"Fifteen seconds!"

"Okay, everyone remember what you are going to say? The images are good? Do we have the videos ready to be played? I really hope we have! We might not have another chance!"

"Everybody out of the stage! We air in five. Four. Three. Two…"

After the moment, the music started to play, as the opening theme of the ZNN, the number one news network of Zootopia and the surrounding states. The illumination was set on stage as two animals were sitting into the desk placed into the middle of the stage, a female snow leopard and a male moose, both wearing suits and looking seriously at the camera as the leopardess started to talk.

"Less than two hours ago, there was a bank robbery in progress, with many animals being taken hostage." As she spoke, it was being shown a recording of the video that was being transmitted live just a few hours ago, showing the bank surrounded by police. "The authorities soon arrived into the place, and the bank was surrounded. However, the situation took an unpredictable turn as one mammal entered the building."

There was a video of a cougar entering the bank, and soon after, many animals, which were the hostages, rushed out of the bank.

"Now, the following images were broadcasted live two hours ago, and though many of you might think so, I can assure you that they are not fake." The leopardess said, and right after, there was images of the front of the bank exploding, and the cougar being pushed outside, and soon, a rhino that had a small hurricane around himself came out.

"It seems impossible, but this is what happened in front of the Furs National Bank, as two mammal who, believe it or not, had super powers, started to have a fight." As she spoke, the images changed to show the rhino controlling the winds to attack the cougar and blow him away. The cougar, in return, was emitting bolts of lightning from  _his paws_ , trying to hit the rhino.

"The battle came to an abrupt stop due to the intervention of the police force of Zootopia, resulting into the rhino escaping, while the cougar stayed in the scene and was seemingly apprehended by the ZPD."

The images showed a close-up of Judy Hopps delivering a blow to the rhino's temple with a baton. Followed the rhino floating into the air. Before changing to the cougar, who now seemed like he was receiving help from the officers of the ZPD, between them, a bulky cape buffalo who seemed to want to keep the cougar away from the cameras.

"These events happened roughly one-and-a-half an hour ago, and the following aftermath was covered by our local team." She spoke, as the images changed to animals who were interviewed and who looked to have several stances over what had happened.

"Have you seem that!?" Said a lion, "Did you saw that!? The rhino was like  _vhowwsh!_  Then the cougar was like  _zap!_  And the Rhino went  _WOOSH!_ " He said, and he was making great gestures as he described the scene the best he could.

"I… I still can't believe I really saw what I saw…" Said a deer who was being interviewed, "I mean… All that I saw was just… I mean… It is impossible. I know it is impossible, but still it happens… What does it means?"

"Super heroes are real!" Said a stallion who seemed a teenager "I always knew it! They told me I was crazy for saying that one day the super heroes would be real! But I was right! In your face, Mrs. Cavalla!"

"That cougar just helped us get out." Said an antelope, who was one of the hostages. "He entered and the rhino blasted him with wind, and then he shot lightnings at him. They fought and the cougar sent him to the ground and then he told us to get out of there. We did get out, of course, what else would we do? And good thing we did, because hell broke loose right after that. I don't even know what would have happened if that cougar had not come…"

"That guy stole my car!" A rhino said, seeming very distressed and confused.

"It is the lightning cougar!" Said a beaver who was pointing at the scene. He is all over the internet! My cousin was in the mall when he stopped the burglars! Man, he was telling the truth! I was sure that it was only one of these publicity things! Maybe something for a movie or a sci-fi series… Man, I own Melvin apologizes…"

It cut back to the studio, and they focused on the moose. "Earlier, images of a cougar fighting robbers into a mall using electric powers were broadcasted all over the internet through different videos. This one was called the "lightning cougar", and was considered to be part of a media campaign of some kind by many people. Now, however, many associate the video with the cougar who fought the rhino into the mall."

Now they showed, on a screen on the side, images taken from the internet of the time when a cougar, with the same appearance and clothes of the cougar from the bank, fighting armed criminals by shooting lightnings at them and knocking them down. The images froze to compare the cougar from the videos with the cougar from the footage of the Furs National Bank, showing that they were identical, and anyone could easily assume that these two were nothing else than the very same cougar with electrical powers.

"Some of our reporters have been trying to contact the authorities to get more information about this event and about the two strange mammals who had super powers, but no one has yet manifested about these topics." The leopardess said as the image changed to show the stage in whole. The moose said:

"While this, there is repercussions in the whole Zootopia, as many mammals are commenting the events of the bank and the mall all over the social medias and other sites. Animals are demanding answers or sharing their own opinions about the matter, which right now are very mixed between people being thrilled and scared."

As he spoke, the leopardess took a hand to her ear, and as he finished, she spoke, "Wait, we have information that one of our teams is on the hospital to where the ZPD took the cougar after the brawl with the rhino. They are in there now, trying to get into the hospital and talking to a few officers."

* * *

"No one is going to see the cougar!" Officer Fangmeyer, the tiger, was saying, while his rhino partner was by his side, trying to keep the crowd of reporters from breaking into the hospital to go searching for the cougar themselves. It was proving hard, once the reporters from all districts of the city seemed to have come to there to try to find the cougar that was the source of all the commotion they were having.

Luckily, no one was able to get past them, or the other five officers that had been designed to stay behind. While this, everyone from the hospital could go on with relative calm as they went to their business.

However, even as they continued without the reporters getting in there, the hospital itself had some commotion, once the ones in there slowly took knowledge about the one that had been brought there a while ago.

Talking about him, Alex Hunter was into one of the rooms of the hospital, into a more secluded area. He had peeled his shirt and there were a few machines plugged into him, most of them checking his vitals. But Alex was barely minding them, once he was focused into a glass cup that had been placed right in front of him.

Alex looked at it for a few moments, and he sighed, before pointing his single finger at the cup. Immediately, a small bolt of lightning jumped from his claw into the cup, causing it to explode and break into pieces.

"Unbelievable…" Said a familiar moose doctor as he had watched what could be the tenth demonstration of what Alex could do. The cougar turned to the moose, and said:

"Well, it truly must be, if you are still saying it after all the ten times that you made me demonstrate it."

"What? Oh! Sorry, is just… I'm still trying to process all that is going on." Doctor Moosard said as he looked at the cougar, and he was checking on the equipment that was connected to the cougar. "When I heard about it and saw in the internet it was really hard to believe, even after I saw it on tv. But seeing it with my own eyes… wow…"

Alex sighed as the moose continued to act with a lot of interest in him, even though Alex was glad that he had taken care of his wounds when he was brought.

The police officers decided to take him into a medic after he was done fighting the rhino, to be sure that the cougar didn't had internal injuries or any other problem from the fight with the rhino. Of course, this brought the discussion of where to take him and about who would take care of him. Nick was the one that brought the solution in the form of doctor Moosard, the medic that already took care of Alex, and he had even taken sample of his blood, so it made sense that they would go to the doctor.

This suggestion was quickly accepted by the others, and they soon took him to the hospital for the moose doctor to check on him.

After a quick check up, the doctor saw that Alex only had a few bruises and gashes (impressive, considering what he had just faced against that rhino), and after it was clear that Alex was fine, and had no internal bleeding, the moose soon was deeply interested into the cougar's powers.

Alex sighed, finding this interest to be somewhat familiar, and that worried him. However, the moose was being very nice to him, and he was not forcing him to do great things, neither was him trying to discharge his own electric currents into him to see if he could interact with electricity at this level. In general, the doctor was being positively amiable, even though the way he was interested into Alex's powers was something that made Alex a little uncomfortable.

Alex almost felt relieved that there were four officers in there: Bogo, Wilde, Hopps, a white ferret into a coat lab with a tag reading "Ferris", and even a boar named "Razorback", who apparently was from their SWAT Team. They all looked at him with some wonder, but they didn't seemed as shocked as other officers looked when they looked at him (the ferret, actually, looked particularly in wonder at the cougar), and that was something that for Alex was positive.

"Your body seems to generate a massive amount of bioelectricity, much like an ell." The doctor said, as he made yet another check into the machines that were reading Alex's vitals, and he added, "But you go a step further and weaponized it in a way of long-range aggression. This is the most impressive, I never even heard about a creature that was able to really generate electrical arcs to attack far enemies, even less a mammal! This is amazing!" The doctor said as he seemed like a child who just got his birthday earlier. The other animals into the room shared looks, while Alex sighed.

"Yeah, I know, it is impressive." He said, in an almost monotone tone. "Well, anyway, thank you doc." The moose stopped for a moment to look at him, while the cougar said, "Thank you for taking care of me and for, you know, not being freaked out by my abilities."

"Who said I am not?" Moosard asked Alex., and the cougar looked back at him, and the moose said "Believe me, I am freaked out. But is not the 'town folk with forks and torches' kind of freaked out. I think it is more of a good kind of freaked out." He said, as he continued to check the vitals that were attached to Alex, and the cougar could only look at him, and then at the other animals who were into the room.

Most of them shrugged at the cougar as the way that the doctor was acting, but the ferret, who was also interested into the signals of the machines, said, "Even when he is not channeling his electricity it seems that his bioelectrical signals are greater than normal…" He spoke.

"Yeah, I noticed it, is amazing!"

"It surely has to do with the great deal of electrical energy that he generates. Maybe his cells are able to produce a much greater deal of natural energy than regular cells do." The ferret said.

"Or maybe there is a specialized organ somewhere into his body, like ells." The doctor offered. "Maybe we can detect something out of the ordinary about his anatomy with a few more x-rays, we didn't noticed anything out of the usual with the ones we already took-"

"AHEM!" Bogo's powerful throat-clearing made the two animals stop and look at him, and they noticed that all the eyes in the room were on them, in particular of Hunter, who seemed not to be liking the way they were talking about his "anatomy"…

"Sorry." Both the moose and the ferret said at the same time, seeming ashamed for having acted like that when they were supposed to be acting more professionally.

"We are just thrilled, you know…" Ferris said, and Moosard agreed:

"Yes, I mean, I spent years studying mammal anatomy and biology and what Mr. Hunter can do go against most things that they had taught me." He said, and he turned to him, "I mean, a mammal that can effectively generate great amounts of natural electricity from their body and is able to weaponized it effectively, it is something astounding!"

"Yes! It opens so much possibilities in so many areas, and it makes us rethink many of our previous assumptions!" Ferris said, and he and the doctor were soon starting to sound like fanboys.

"AHEM!" Bogo cleared his throat again, and the two stopped, and they recomposed themselves, and Bogo, on his turn, was starting to regret having allowed Ferris to come and be present during the examinations.

"Well, Mr. Hunter, it really seems that there is nothing wrong with you. You are not wounded and show no signs of internal bleeding of any kind." Doctor Moosard said, and he added, "Well, aside from the… unusually high bioelectric charge, I don't see any anything out of the ordinary about you. Well, at least nothing that could be seen without the use of a more profound examination."

"I'm not in the mood for 'profound examinations' at the moment, doctor." Alex said, and the doctor nodded at him.

"Yeah, I imagined."

As the doctor checked on a few papers, the door of the room opened, and a few other animals entered. They were two gazelles, a she-wolf, and a hippo, all of them dressed either as a medic or as a nurse. The she-wolf, who was dressed as a nurse, walked forward, with a few papers in her hand.

"Doctor Moosard… The radiology just sent in these papers with the X-rays…"

"Oh, right, thank you, Jessica." He said, as he picked up the papers, but the she-wolf and the other animals continued where they stood, none of them moving. The other animals noticed it, and the doctor said, "Something wrong?"

Neither of them answered, as they were only looking at Alex. The cougar sighed as he already knew why they were there. Ever since he arrived, it seemed that a few individuals of the hospital were searching for excuses to come to search for him, to see the "lightning cougar".

Well, if they came for this…

Alex raised both hands at the level of his chest, and put them around a foot apart from each other, and focused slightly. Small arcs of lightning travelled in between his hands, before he formed a sphere of electrical energy in between his paws.

He heard four gasps as the animals who came there to see him got a show of his true abilities live. The gasps were followed by sounds of wonder, right before Bogo's voice cut them. "Okay, this is not a live show! If you don't have anything important to do in here, than you better leave and attend to the other mammals in this hospital! Now out!"

Soon the animals were nearly kicked out of the room by Bogo, and Alex was actually quite thankful for this, and the room once more returned to the silence that it was before, with only small commentaries made by Moosard and Ferris. After a few more moments, Razorback seemed to finally having had enough of the silence, and he said:

"Okay, how much longer will we wait until we talk about this whole situation?"

All the eyes fell on him. Razorback turned his good eye to Bogo, and soon, the eyes followed him, as the buff mammal sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew that they all were wanting an answer from him, including Alex, and now, even doctor Moosard.

The buffalo looked at all of them, and after a few moments of silence, Razorback said, "Well, Bogo, now I think it is time to finish that talk that we started to have back in your office."

"I'll have to agree." Ferris said, and the buffalo eyed him. The ferret flinched a little, but he continued, "I mean, you were explaining to us about all that we had seen, and about Alex Hunter, and about the things that he could do."

"Yeah, you were the only one who never seemed to be really surprised with my ability." Alex said, looking at the buffalo, and the buffalo looked back at him, but Alex didn't felt intimidated by him in the slightest. "Almost as if you already expected to find someone like me around…"

Bogo pressed the bridge of his nose even harder, knowing that the questions were getting more difficult, and he knew that the cougar wasn't wrong. Many others would become scared, shocked, maybe somewhat disoriented by what the cougar could do, but Bogo himself wasn't, and there was a good reason for it…

"You said something about 'animals like me' back into the police station…" Alex said, and the buffalo looked at him, "What did you meant by that?"

Bogo looked at him, and he saw that all the eyes in the room now were on him, and waiting for an answer. Bogo saw himself with no other choice but to talk and give them answers. After all, they all had been through a lot recently, and now that the information was being broadcasted over all of Zootopia right then, who cared?

Bogo decided that they deserved to know at least a bit more, and he could deal with Savage later. BY the way, the mammal was taking a lot of time to call, was he trying to remediate the situation? Bah, who cared?

Bogo only looked back at the cougar, and he sighed, before saying, "When I talked about 'animals like you'…" Bogo said, looking at him and trying to find words that he could use that would not be offensive. "I meant that I have nothing against meta mammals."

Alex looked back at him. Alex was an evo, an evolved human. Or, at least that was what he was before he turned into a cougar. Now that he was that, it made sense that he would be called something else, and the term "meta mammal", while not being exactly what Alex would come up with if he was designed to think, it was actually not the bad, and quite appropriated. Alex thought that he could get used to it, given enough time…

"I mean that I have nothing against animals that have the powers that you have." Bogo continued, and the other animals in the room all looked at him. "I don't care if you can shoot lightnings, or make things explode, or if you can pass through walls, I won't judge you because of it."

Alex nodded, and the others shared looks as the buffalo was making a point in there. However, the way that he talked, said something that they were all thinking in there:

"So… are you saying that you don't mind if I have powers, but you will arrest me if I try to use them to break the law?" Alex asked, and Bogo looked back at him.

"Yeah, pretty much." He said, rather casually, and the others into the room all looked at the buffalo, and back at the cougar, who was looking back at him, before he shrugged and said:

"Yeah, I guess it is fair enough."

The cougar seemed to relax into the place he was sitting, and some of the tension that had been cumulated into the room seemed to have dissipated, but there was still a lot of questions hanging into the air, as the others wanted to ask their own questions and even their commentaries, including Alex himself.

"What about Rhinehart?" Alex asked, and the eyes all turned back to him.

"We are still searching for him, but by now he can be very far." Bogo said.

"So, you  _do_  know the rhino?" Razorback asked at the cougar, who sighed, and he spoke:

"Only by rumors." He looked away, and he continued to speak. "I heard about his powers of wind control, and that he is dangerous. He is prone to violence and he doesn't mind hurting others to get what he wants."

Alex looked back at the animals into the room, before he spoke. "Long story short, he is a bad person."

The other animals nodded, and Nick was very tempted to ask the next question: "So… how did you heard about him?" The eyes turned to the fox as he asked the question, "I mean, there is a social site only for mammals with super powers, or do you guys trade letter among yourselves?"

The cougar looked at him, and he wasn't sure of how to answer that. He knew that Finn Rhinehart was a guy that got somehow famous in the human world, but of course that they had absolutely no clue of who he was into that new world that he was in. How Alex could explain to them the fact that both he and Rhinehart came from another world that was inhabited by creatures called "humans", that they were a particular variant of the species called "evos" and that they had both been turned into other animals by the events that had taken place into the previous night.

Well, Alex surely didn't knew, not unless he wanted to make himself look strange or crazy. That was something that Alex didn't wanted at the present moment, when they finally seemed to be putting a little trust in him and to be taking him more seriously.

Luckily for him, Bogo intervened, "What else can you tell us about Finn Rhinehart?"

Alex looked at him, and he shrugged, "Not much. The guy is violent. Hates cops. Has powerful wind abilities. He is smart and is able to stay out of the radar for a while if he needs. Oh, and he is very easy to anger. I don't know much more, I never really met the guy before today."

"Then how he knew your name and asked for you to be taken to him?" Ferris asked, and Alex looked at him, but all of the eyes were now turned at the cougar, as the ferret had taken a very important note, and one that was into the minds of everyone: even if Alex was telling the truth, and he didn't knew the rhino, it was obvious that the rhino knew him.

That was something that Alex had absolutely no way of denying, and he knew that if he tried to escape from the talk, then the others around would notice and find it strange. Alex remained in silence for a few moments, as he pondered into what to say to them next. After a few, Alex thought about what to say to them, and he decided:

"You see… last night something happened."

The eyes were all on him, and Alex continued, "I was into a place with a few of my friends… and we were taking care of something important…"

Alex would have continued to talk, but there was a light knock on the door.

"What is it!?" Bogo nearly shouted, making all of the animals of the room jump slightly, and the one who was on the other side of the door hesitated before opening the door.

The head of a cow peered from the other side of the door, and said meekly. "I… huh… I just thought that you could want some coffee." She said, and there was a brief silence into the room, before Wilde said:

"Well, a coffee would be nice right now."

The eyes all turned to him, and after a while, Bogo sighed, and gestured for the young cow to come inside. She opened the door and walked forward. She was dressed up like a nurse, and she had a nice body. She was carrying a trail with a few cups of coffee in it, and she soon was distributing it among the animals of the room.

"Decaffeinate with cream. Pure black coffee. Hot cocoa with marshmallow. Double express. Two simple coffees with sugar…" She said, giving each mammal the kind of coffee that they wanted, and soon she reach Alex, and she said, "Sorry, I didn't knew if you liked in your coffee with soy or with some kind of nut milk, so I got you one with soy milk."

Alex looked at her, as he had earlier asked for some coffee and milk, if they were willing to give it to him. Alex liked to drink coffee with milk to help himself calm down when he was too nervous. He was about to say that he meant that he wanted his coffee with  _real_  milk, but as soon as he realized that the one offering the coffee to him was a _cow_  Alex had serious second thoughts about that, and he simply accepted the coffee with  _soy milk_  that was offered to him. He still didn't understood very well how that world functioned, but he had the feeling that it would not be appropriate say to a cow that you wanted the milk of her species into your coffee. The cow nodded to him, and soon she was leaving the ones in there to drink the coffee and go back to the awkward silence that there was just moments before.

Alex took a few sips of the coffee that was brought to him, and he found out that it tasted around the same thing as milk. It was easy to say that it was not milk, but it was good. Alex found himself wondering if there was option for coffee to come with milk from cows, but as he thought about it, Alex found himself blushing slightly and feeling somewhat awkward with the thoughts, as several new implications came into his mind, referring to this new kind of society where he found himself into…

"So, you were saying?" Bogo asked, and this snapped Alex out of his thoughts, and he looked at the other animals, who were looking at him, as if he was something very interesting. Alex didn't knew if he was thankful for having his thoughts driven away of the milk subject, or if he was nervous for having his attention brought back to the subject of the explanation that he was giving to the ones in there.

"Oh, right…" Alex said, putting his coffee down, as he looked at the others in there, and he continued, "So, I was saying that my friends and I were on a place last night, and we were doing something important… Well, Finn Rhinehart was there."

"He was with you?"

"No!" Alex said immediately, and he took a breather to calm himself down. "Finn Rhinehart was in the same place that we were, but he was not on our side. He was hired to be there."

"Hired?" Asked Razorback.

"Yeah, by the guy we were trying to stop."

"Stop from doing what?" Judy asked.

Alex looked at her, and he remained silent. If he was going to explain to them, then he would have to explain a lot more things for them to understand, and Alex was pretty sure that it was going to take a while and was going to raise a lot more questions, some of them which Alex was not sure that he wanted to answer…

They noticed the silence that the cougar was making now, and they were all looking at him. Ferris tried to break the tension by asking something else. "But… didn't you said that you and the rhino never met in person?"

"And we never did."

"Then… how do you know that he was in there?"

"Because he said that in the bank." Alex said, and the others continued to look at him, "Well, the guy we wanted to stop knew we were going, so he hired Rhinehart and a few others to hold us back. Rhinehart was there because he had been hired to protect the guy."

The animals in the room all shared looks, and Alex continued to explain. "Well, remember how earlier I was lost and confuse, and how yesterday I dropped in your car?" Alex looked at the animals into the room, as their eyes were all back on him. "It was because, last night, something happened into that place. Something that was very strange, even for me. One moment I was into a room with my girlfriend by my side, and those two bastards threatening to kill my friend, and in the next, I was… I don't even know how to explain  _where_ I was… The next thing I knew was that I was waking up in a hospital… in a place I've never been before in my life, surrounded by animals I don't know…"

There was a brief silence as Alex took a deep breath, and the other animals kept a respectful silence as they looked at him. "Well, I guess that Rhinehart passed by the same thing, and that he was searching for someone that could tell him where he was and what had happened last night."

"And he went after you?" Razorback asked, and Alex shrugged. "I guess anyone would do. He knew that I was going to be in there, and I guess that he heard about me somewhere…"

"Yeah, you were all over the internet earlier." Nick said, taking another sip of his coffee, and all the animals in the room were forced to agree. Alex really was all over the internet earlier, and anyone who had a computer, or a carrot phone, or anything else that could access the internet would have known about him. It would not be hard for the rhino to hear about Alex, and also to learn that he was under the custody of the police.

"He figured out that I could give him some answers." Alex concluded.

"But… how he knew that you were into the same place that he was last night?" Ferris asked, and once more all eyes were on Alex. The human-turned-cougar was starting to feel uncomfortable with animals eyeing him like that.

"Well, I guess for the same reason that he was in there in the first place…" Alex said, and he took another sip on his own coffee, before saying. "Because the guy who hired him was actually expecting me to go in there."

There was a brief silence, as the other animals took in this information, and Bogo asked, "And the guy who hired him would be…"

Alex sighed, "A worthless bastard who would do a great favor to the world if he dug a hole in the ground and hid in there forever…" Alex said, without even thinking about anything as he spoke that, and the other animals shared looks.

"So, I suppose you and this guy don't get along?" Nick asked.

"That… would be the understatement of the year." Alex said, and he drank down more of his coffee, which was now almost on half. Alex rarely had soy milk in his life, but now that he was having, it was starting to taste quite good. Alex thought that he could very well get used to this, if regular milk was really of the menu, (what Alex had a strong feeling that was) it was rather good, and it didn't tasted bad like everyone said…

There was another silence into the room, and after a while, Judy spoke, "So… what exactly happened last night, and where?" Alex looked at her as she asked that. "Why were you there, and why the guy knew that you were coming? What happened last night?"

Alex knew that she wanted to see that question answered, they all wanted. However, Alex would have to go through many explanations to be able to answer that, and he was sure that some of them would make them really nervous. So, Alex choose to remain silent.

Once she saw that the cougar was once again remain silent, she found it suspicious. Well, a lot of things about that cougar were really suspicious, and that was something that Judy had no way of denying.

After a few more moments of silence, doctor Moosard asked the cougar: "Your friends… they were… like you?"

Alex looked at him, and he saw a curiosity into the face of that moose. Alex knew by his experience that this was the natural curiosity of a scientist. Medics could very well have their minds and knowledge set into a very specific field of science, but they were still, to all intents, scientists. At least that was what one of his friends had told him some time ago.

Alex soon realized that the other animals were all looking at him, and they all wanted to know the same thing: if the friends that he said he had, the ones that he seemed to be looking for, all had super powers, just like him.

Alex sighed, and he knew that he should give them some explanations, at least the ones that they truly needed or deserved, after all that they went through. So, he decided to speak.

"When you are like me, one of the things you learn is to be afraid of the world." Alex spoke, and he looked at all the animals in there. "When you live in a world where the others can be cruel to you only because you are what you are… only because you are… different, you learn to be afraid of the 'normal' people."

The cougar spoke the world "normal" with a tone of irony, and it was easily perceived by the other animals in the room. "So, if you avoid these people, it is natural for you to end up getting close to the ones that are more like you, that understand you, that share your pains, fears, and doubts, and who are not so easily scared by what you can do."

"Others who are like you." Alex concluded as he raised his head and looked back at the other animals, and he sighed. "I made friends. Both like me and normal, and they were with me last night… They were with me in there, because they knew that it was important. They knew that they had to come with me, because I would end up going with or without them… They wanted to be there to help me."

Alex spoke that with a crescent tone of dread, and the other animals looked intently at him.

"And… what happened?" Judy asked him, and the cougar sighed.

"Things went wrong…" Alex said, "First those bastards caught one of my friends as a hostage, and they were about to win. Then something really strange happened." Alex placed a hand on his face as he started to relieve the events from last night. "There was light, we were all moving, I felt hot all over my body… I thought I was going to die."

Alex sighed, and lowered his hand, and now he was just staring at his half-empty cup of coffee, and he continued. "I don't know what happened to my friend after that… I didn't saw them, neither I saw these bastards… I only saw Linda… Right before she…"

There was a moment, and the cougar seemed to become slightly distressed by the memory, and Judy asked. "Linda was…  _is_  your friend?" She had corrected herself, knowing that she should not talk about her as if she was dead, at least not yet, not until they knew exactly what happened last night.

Alex sighed, looking at the coffee, seeing his own reflection into what was left of it, to the face that was now his, the face of the cougar. Still, Alex looked at it as if it had always been him, as if it had always been who he was, as if it was himself just like Alex felt in the inside. As if Alex was still the very same guy that Linda always said to be a strange mixture of a trouble-maker with a very well behaved boy. The same guy who she claimed that could always make her feel better no matter what would happen at any moment.

"She is my girlfriend…" Alex said, and he took a last gulp of his coffee, gobbling it all down at once, and the room fell into another wave of silence, and this one was somewhat deeper than all of the others.

Anyone would think that Alex was deeply worried, even taken by dread, by the thought that his girlfriend had vanished, and she could very well be dead. That was what the other animasl in there thought.

Actually, it was quite the opposite. After what had happened earlier, Alex actually felt more hopeful, because knowing that Rhinehart, a guy who was also in the same place that he was last night, and who had been caught by that strange vortex of light, had also ended up in there too, had confirmed Alex suspicions.

He wasn't the only one that had been brought to that strange place.

If both he and Rhinehart had been sucked by that vortex and came out of it alive and well, then it meant that the others in that building could have all shared the same fate. That meant that all of his friends could all have been brought to that world and be somehow turned into animals, and they could very well be walking around, all of them trying to understand what had happened.

Misty. Jeff. Linda. They all could be roaming around that world somewhere, and even if they had turned into something else, they could still be around, and be fine (as far as possible considering that they would have turned into animals just like him) and they could actually be searching for one another, and for him.

Knowing this actually filled Alex with hope, for now he knew that he truly had a chance of finding them.

He knew that he still had a chance to see Linda's smile again…

* * *

"If you are not a doctor or a patient you won't enter the hospital! And that's final!" The rhino in police uniform bellowed, as the crowd of reporters and curious mammals was still trying to force their way into the hospital.

"You can't do that! What about the press liberty!?" Demanded a female lioness reporter, with a llama cameraman following her close behind. Many others into the crowd agreed, and they continued to try to force their way inside the hospital, for they all wanted to see if they could catch a glimpse of the cougar or maybe (with some luck) an exclusive interview.

The cops, despite being big and burly, were starting to have troubles to hold back all of these reporters, and they did the best that they could while they let the patients and doctors walk inside the building. It was easy to them, they just had to make sure to let in anyone that seemed injured or sick, was dressed as a doctor or nurse, or that was not carrying any form of recording device that you would expect from a reporter.

Actually, that was all that they could do, since holding back that mob of news people was proving to demand a lot of their attention and time. They had just now let in a group of mammals in: a llama walking with the help of two stags as he was limping, a hippo with a bleeding hand enveloped into a white tissue, and a gazelle with a pair of sunglasses and a tissue tied in her head, with a corner of it passing between her horns.

The group entered and the cops immediately closed the way again, the prevent that flock of vultures from entering the hospital. The group that they just let in continued inside the hospital, many already searching for the medics to try to get some attention, but not the gazelle.

She walked into the lobby, seeing many animals in there, both staff and patients, all tacking care of their business. As she walked past them, she could hear parts of their conversations, and she noticed that there was one particular topic that seemed to be quite popular:

"He is in the east wing, in the room 462, doctor Moosard is with him along with a guy from the ZPD's forensics."

"The lightning cougar is really here, I know that because I saw when they brought him earlier!"

"He really has powers! He can create lightnings from his fingers! I telling you man, I saw that with my very own eyes!"

The gazelle passed by them, getting all the information that she needed.

He was in there. East wing, room 462.

Now that she knew it for sure, she just needed to get in there.

So, she asked to a zebra nurse for directions.

"Huh, excuse me, my boyfriend is in here, and he is in the East wing, can you point me the directions?"

"Sure! Take that elevators, the rooms for the patients are on the second floor, when you get out take the left hallway and turn on the first right. Do you need to know the specific room?"

"No, I think I can find it out myself, thank you." She said, and she moved away from the nurse, already knowing exactly where she needed to go to find him, and she knew that she was going to have to make it quietly and fast, if she wanted to have success in what she came there to do. She knew that if they saw her coming she would be in trouble.

Entering the elevator, she took it in direction to the second floor, with the company of three other animals who were taking it along with her.

She felt nervous as she patted her hoof into the floor of the elevator, and it stopped on the first floor, allowing two animals to get out of it. She felt relieved when it arrived on the second floor, and she was able to walk out of the elevator, leaving behind the antelope doctor who was checking on a few papers.

She barely minded him as the doors closed again, and she saw herself in the middle of two hallways, and she took the one on the left. She walked for a bit, and as soon as she saw another hallway opening to the right, she took it.

She saw herself into a hallway that was filled with doors that surely led to rooms in which the several patients were, each one with a three-digit number printed on the front.

"462. 462. 462." She said to herself as she passed by each room and checking on the numbers.

She continued to walk, and after a while, she heard a voice.

"There is something that he is not telling us."

"Yeah, it is pretty obvious, ain't it?"

She stopped right on the corner, and she stayed hidden behind it. She peered behind the corner to see two animals talking to each other. One of them was a buff bovine who wore a police uniform, and the other was a grey-colored boar who had a scar over his eye and was wearing what seemed to be a tactical clothing of shorts, telling that he was no ordinary guy.

She tensed when she saw these two, and they continued to talk, unaware of her presence.

"Well, I admit that the things that he does are pretty strange, and it kinds of scares me a bit. But that Hunter actually seems like a nice boy." The boar said.

"Yeah, I noticed that too, that is the only reason why he isn't cuffed to the bed." The buffalo said, and the boar snorted as he smiled, as if it was some kind of joke.

The gazelle tensed as she heard that, her hand clenching slightly into a fist as she looked at these two animals.

"Anyway, he surely is hiding something… and he ain't the only one." The boar said, and he looked at the buffalo, who looked back at him. "Oh, come on, Mason, I know you well enough to know when you are holding back information. You can't kid an old pig like me. Look, if you don't want to share everything you know, that is fine by me, just don't take me for a fool, okay?"

The buffalo looked at him, and he sighed. "Yeah, fair enough." He said, and immediately after, there was the sound of a cell phone ringing. The buffalo reached for his pocket and pulled out his phone. The gazelle could see his face making a slightly scowl as he looked at it.

"Sorry, I have to take it."

"Okay, I'll go see if they have some decent food in here." The boar said, and he started to walk in the opposite direction, while the buffalo was now walking in the direction of the gazelle!

"Bogo talking." The buffalo said as he continued to walk into the hallway. He turned the corner, and he continued to walk into the empty space. "Yeah, you were taking a while to call. Look, before you say anything, I…"

He didn't finished what he was saying, and he stopped walking for a moment, before he said. "What?" He continued with the phone on his ear, as the one on the other end of the line talked to him. "Wait, what do you mean more complicated than you thought?"

He continued with the phone on his ear as the one on the other line talked to him. "Oh, oh, wait! Look here, I have been through a lot in the past hours, and I'm doing my best at the moment! So you better give me a break in here, okay?" He said, and he continued to walk, and he walked past the hallway.

Behind him, the sound of hooves could be heard as the gazelle was watching him walk away, trying to be as silent as she could. The buffalo was too busy talking on his phone with someone to actually pay very much attention to her, and that was all that she wanted.

Turning her head, she looked back at the hallway, and she went to there as fast and silently as she could, passing by the rooms one by one.

After a while, she finally saw the room she was looking for:

462

That was the room he was into.

She was about to go inside, when she heard carefully.

There were people in there, and she knew it because she could hear different voices.

He was not alone in there…

* * *

"So, there are places where you can get real milk from mammals?" Alex asked to Officer Wilde. "Not soy or nut milk, but the real thing?"

"Of course there is." Nick said to him as he took another sip of his coffee "But you have to go to some shady corners of Downtown if you want to get it. They take it from some females who get paid for this, and they even make things out of it. Like cheese, yogurt, butter… much like the things that you can find in the super markets, but with milk used in the fabrication."

"What is slightly disturbing, if you ask me..." Ferris said as he and the doctor were still into the machines, analyzing some data. "I mean, make food using something that came from a living mammal?" He shuttered as he thought about it.

"Yeah, there are a lot of people who frown over it." Nick said.

"Is it illegal?" Alex asked, and the fox said.

"Nah, not at all. People just thing it is strange. But there are guys who like these things and pay high for a taste."

Alex nodded. In fact, it seemed that the milk thing was really as complicated as it seemed to him in the first place. While it was not against the law or anything, it was clear that it was a heavy taboo. Alex could only imagine what would be the reaction of the ones in the room if he said that he wanted milk from a cow into his coffee…

Nick finished his coffee, and he said, "Man, this one is really good." He put it down, and he turned to his bunny friend. "Hey, Carrots, want to get another one?"

The bunny looked back at him, and she shook her own cup, seeing that it was nearly completely empty. She looked back at her partner, and then at the cougar.

"I'm not going to try to escape." Alex told her, looking her in the eye. "Besides, where would I go?"

She locked eyes with him for a few moments, and she sighed. "Yeah, I guess we need a little more coffee, and maybe we can also grab a snack. I haven't eaten anything all day…"

Nick chuckled, and soon both he and the bunny were walking outside.

"Well, I have to go check these results with a few of my colleagues." Doctor Moosard said, as he fixed a few papers and seemed to be getting ready to leave. "I know a few professionals that will surely be interested in seeing this, besides, they have more expertise in this kind of thing than I do. Maybe they can give me some important input."

"I go with you." Ferris said, causing the two mammals to look at him. "I mean, I am interested into hearing the opinions of professionals, and I guess that my own inputs could be very useful, right?"

 _He doesn't want to be left alone with me_. Alex thought to himself. The ferret, along with the other mammals, was showing that they didn't blatantly feared or hated Alex, buy like all of them, he was showing what Alex supposed that was a good amount of mistrust on the subject of someone that could do the things that Alex could.

Doctor Moosard accepted, and he turned to Alex, asking "Will you be okay by yourself for a few minutes?"

"Yeah, sure." Alex said, and the doctor seemed to take it as enough for him to leave the cougar on his own. Soon both ferret and moose walked out of the door, and Alex was left completely alone.

Sighing, Alex got up from the bed after a few moments, and he picked back his shirt, and soon he was wearing it once more. Walking over, Alex stopped in front of a mirror, once more looking at the face that now was his own face.

Alex had always recognized the face of the young man with short blonde hair when he was a human. That was himself, and that was something that Alex thought that maybe he always knew, and was always going to know.

Now, however, as he looked at the cougar looking back at him in the mirror, he had this very same feeling. The feeling that the cougar on the mirror was him, that it was who he was, who he had always been, and who he was probably still going to be.

It was that automatic sense of self-recognizance that Jeff told him about one time. The ability to recognize one's own image, and one of those things that separated humans from many other animals. However, now that Alex was no longer a human, he seemed to still have this natural sense, and it told him that the cougar looking back at him was no other than himself.

Alex remembered when he freaked out by seeing this, and he was still freaking out just a bit.

Alex son caught himself wondering just how his own friends were taking it. How Jeff, Linda, and all the others were talking in their new appearances, wherever they were. Also, Alex asked himself just what appearances they would have now. Of course, this led Alex to ask himself, once more, if he would actually be able to recognize his friends if he saw them again.

After all, Alex turned into a cougar, and that Rhinehart guy had turned into a rhino. What had his friends turned into? Could they be walking around that city in their new forms? Could Alex have passed by any of them and just didn't recognized them because they were no longer human but something else?

As Alex thought about it, his ears (which now seemed to be more sensitive to sounds then they were when he was a human) caught the sound of the door opening, and of someone walking in. Someone who had hooves.

"Have you forgotten something?" Alex asked, not turning around, as he continued to look at the mirror. The one who entered didn't answered, and Alex said, "If you are looking for doctor Mossard he just left, and the officers too. Doctor said he would go to find some friends of him to discuss my exams. Bogo and Razorback went somewhere to talk. Hopps and Wilde went to have coffee and food."

There was a little more of silence, before the voice said.

"Good… because I wanted to find you all alone."

Many people would be creeped out by the female voice saying something like that. But Alex wasn't, for he knew that voice.

In the moment he heard that voice, his eyes widened, and he almost got a backlash from turning his head so fast to look at the one who had just arrived into the room.

It was a gazelle, and she had soft-cream colored fur in her body, with a light-brown tuff or fur in the top of her head and a white muzzle. She was wearing long jeans shorts and a pink tank top, that Alex found very familiar.

However, more familiar than that was the face of the gazelle, as she removed her shades and the cloth that she had tied to her head, revealing her face completely to Alex.

As he looked at her. As he looked at the face of the gazelle, and deeply into her hazelnut colored eyes, and that smile in her muzzle, he could instantly recognize her. Much like he did every single time before.

"…Linda?"

 

 

 


	10. Reunited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, yet another chapter done and delivered! Sorry if this one was a bit cheesy, I’m not very experienced with romance scenes ^^;

There were several seconds of silence in that room, as the two mammals in there looked at each other.

The gazelle looked at the cougar, and the cougar looked back at the gazelle.

Linda had always been a beautiful person. What suited her, because "Linda" in some languages, meant "beautiful", so it fit her just like a glove.

Alex had always found her beautiful, even if it was not a "show-off beauty", like the one of models. She was beautiful, that was for sure.

Now, Alex looked at the gazelle in front of him, and somehow, even if she was no longer human, Alex could still see the same beauty that she always had in his eyes. Her beautiful eyes of a hazelnut-color, and the beautiful way that she smiled, which seemed perfectly natural, even with the new muzzle that she had.

A few moments ago, Alex was worried that he would not recognize Linda if he ever saw her again, but now, that he looked at that gazelle in front of him, he was sure that there was no way that he would mistake her for anyone else.

It was Linda.

There were more moments of silence, before both mammals rushed to each other. They hugged, and they started to kiss.

That kiss was full of love and of some passion, much like all the other kisses that they had shared. That was only one more proof to Alex that this one gazelle could be no other than Linda. There was no way that he could mistake that feeling of kissing her.

After a few moments, they broke the kiss, and they looked lovingly into each other's eyes. Alex looked at Linda, and saw that she was still smiling.

_SLAP_

Suddenly Alex felt some burning feeling on his cheek, and he took a moment to register that Linda had just slapped him in the face.

He looked back at her, shocked, and she now had stopped smiling and had a serious look in her face.

"Wha..?" Alex mumbled, and Linda looked back at him, before saying:

"Where have you been?"

Alex looked back at her, and after a while, she hugged him very close. Alex blinked, and after a few moments, he heard Linda saying, "I thought I was never going to see you again."

Her voice was full of worry, and he knew that she probably had thought that she could never see him again, much like Alex had caught himself thinking about it, and the thought was one that made him very uneasy.

She had the right to be worried, after all.

Alex hugged her back, and he said, "A lot of things happened." He was trying now to comfort her. "I didn't knew where you were or how to find you. If I could, I would have went straight to you as soon as I woke up."

There was another moment of silence, as the two animals just continued to hug each other, finding comfort into each other's presence. Now, Alex could smell Linda's scent. He had never truly noticed it, but it smelled nice. It was a comforting smell, it made him feel like in home, and made him feel that everything was going to be okay now that they found each other.

"Alex…" Linda said, as she continued to hug him. "You smell like rain."

Alex could not think of anything to come up as an answer, and so, he only said: "Linda… I'm so happy for seeing you again." He broke the hug, "But… how did you found me?"

"Well, it wasn't hard." She said, "You are all around the news."

Alex now felt goofy for having asked that. After all, he knew that God-knows-how-many reporters had recorded him, and now he was probably on the way to have his fifteen minutes of fame.

"You really don't lose a chance to be a hero, do you?" Linda asked him, with quite a smirk. Alex looked at her, and he chuckled, and she did chuckled with him. "Alex, you truly are a lost cause." She said, and despite her words, Alex knew that she actually admired him for that, and that she meant it into the best way possible.

"Yeah, maybe I am." Alex said, and he looked at her, and then, he asked. "Linda, what about the others? Jeff? Tania? Nora? Martin? T.J.? Vivian?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing…" Linda said, and Alex knew that she had no idea where they were, or if they were even alive. "We can search for them later, but now we have to escape."

"Huh?"

"Yeah! Why do you think I came here? I here to rescue you!" She said, and she looked back at the door. "If we rush than maybe we can get out before they notice that you are gone."

"Wha… Linda, what are you-" Alex asked.

"Alex, I don't know how long they might take to come back, but I think we need to go now to avoid any of them. If we need we can just use our powers."

"Linda. Linda! Hold on!" Alex said, holding her by the arms "Calm down."

"Alex, how can I calm down?" She said as she looked at him. "Alex, I saw the police taking you on the tv! And they had already took you earlier! It is back home all over again! And now people are talking all about us again! Just like the girl into the Ferris Wheel!"

"Yes, Yes, I know!" Alex said, trying to calm her down. "But I'm not a prisoner. They just took me here to threat my wounds."

She looked at him, and he looked back at her. "Linda, they didn't do anything with me. Well, the doctor seems to have interest in my abilities, but he has being very polite with me, and none of them tried to drug me or to lock me up now."

She looked at him, and after a while, he said, "I think that they actually trust me."

She looked back at him, and she said, "Alex…"

"Linda." The cougar said, looking her in the eyes, and guiding a gentle hand to her face. That new face that seemed perfectly natural to him, just as her human face had always been. "Maybe things are going to be different in here."

Alex didn't needed to explain what he meant. Still, Linda looked back at him with worried eyes. "Alex, only because they are not making a case of it now it doesn't mean that it is going to be different." She was looking on his eyes as she said that. "You know how things work, it is going to be a witch hunt all over again."

"Maybe not." Alex insisted to her. "Maybe it IS going to be different now."

"But what if it isn't?" Linda asked him, and Alex looked deep in her eyes, and he saw that she was worried. She had the right to be. Alex sighed, and he said.

"I really don't know." He admitted, and looked at her, "But, I'm trying to be positive here, and I think that cooperating is good." He said as he looked at her, and she looked back at him. "Last time there were the Renautas back at home, and the bombing of the Summit, and all of the stuff."

She looked back at him, and Alex said, "But… I have been thinking, and there is none of these guys in here."

"But what if they appear?" Linda insisted.

Alex looked at her, and she spoke. "Alex, I'm scared."

He looked back into her eyes, and gently caressed her face. "Me too." He admitted, as he pulled her into another hug, putting his arms protectively around her. "But I'm trying to make the best of the situation." He spoke that as he continued to hold her close. "They haven't done anything to me up until now. I'm my opinion it is a good sign."

"Alex… sometimes you are too much optimistic." Linda said, and Alex chuckled, "I thought you liked that in me."

She chuckled too, and she said, "I still think that we should leave."

"And go to where?" Alex asked, "We don't know exactly how this place is, and I'm pretty sure that we don't even know the city very well, and we would end up getting lost. We don't know where our friends are, and we don't know anyone in this city. I'm pretty sure that if we ran we would end up in a bigger mess than we already are."

Indeed, Alex really had the feeling that he was being able to build some kind of trust with the animals in there, and if he ran away it could jeopardize it. Anyways, Alex had ran away for a very long time, and honestly, he had gotten tired of it two years ago. He didn't wanted to start to run and living in fear once more, not when it actually seemed to have a chance of a better future.

After a while, they broke the hug, and Linda looked at him, "What now?" she asked.

"Well, we stay here and try to cooperate." Alex said, shrugging. "I'm not sure of what will come up next, but I'm willing to give it a try, at least with the guys that seem to be nice at me."

Linda nodded, seeing the cougar's point. "So, it seems that I sneaked into a solo rescue mission for nothing." She said, looking mildly annoyed, and Alex chuckled.

"Well, it wasn't for nothing." He said, "After all, you got to be again with your handsome boyfriend." He said with a sly smirk.

She smiled back, and she said, "Good to see that going furry have not changed you too much." She smiled, and gently caressed his cheek, Alex smiled and closed his eyes, enjoying her touch, and both of them heard a sound that caught them both by surprise.

"You were… purring?" Linda asked, and Alex felt himself blushing madly at this. Linda, on the other hand, smiled, and returned to caressing gently his cheek. Alex could not help but purr once more, just like a kitten receiving some attention.

Linda giggled. "Oh my God! My boyfriend is a giant kitty!" She said with humor, and continued to caress gently his face, and even scratched a bit at his neck, what made him purr more. Alex couldn't help it, once he had always enjoyed the way that Linda played with him like that, and now, that he was a big feline, he seemed to enjoy it a lot more.

"I just realized I have forgotten-" A familiar voice said as the door was opened, making Alex and Lind snap out of their little moment to look at it.

Dc. Moosard was just in the door, the papers still in his hands as he looked at the scene before him. At his feet, was Ferris, also looking surprised.

"What the… who are you?" He asked to the gazelle who was now with her hand into the cougar's face.

Linda looked back at him. "Who are  _you_?" She questioned back.

"Uhhh, Linda?" Alex said, causing the gazelle to look back at him. "This is doctor Moosard, he is the doctor who is taking care of me. The little one is Ferris, he is from the police forensics."

Linda looked at the moose, and only then, she looked down, at the small white ferret, who looked back at her. "Wait, Linda?" Ferris asked, taking a step forward. "Linda as in… Linda, Mr. Hunter's girlfriend?"

The two lovers shared a look, and Alex said, "Yeah, that is her."

"Oh…" Ferris said, while he and doctor Moosard both looked mildly surprised.

"Well, that is… ahem! Well, it is nice to meet you." Ferris said, and Linda looked from him, and back at the doctor.

"Miss… may I ask you how did you got inside?"

"It was not really hard." Linda said, letting go of Alex and standing to the doctor with her arms crossed over her chest. "You really need to enforce the security in here."

There were a few moments of silence, before the doctor found the words to say. "Miss…"

"Thompson." Linda said, "Linda Thompson."

The doctor nodded, and he said, "Ms. Thompson, this area of the hospital has been temporarily claimed as a restrict access area." He said, and she looked at him, and then at Alex. The cougar only shrugged. "You need to have special permission to come here, and you can't enter to see Mr. Hunter at any time you see fit unless there is someone doctor or officer into the room."

"Oh, so you are preventing people from having contact with him?" Linda asked, "Sorry, I didn't knew that I needed permission from someone to come to see my boyfriend who I thought was dead."

The way she talked made both mammals recoil. Alex had always admired the way that Linda didn't took crap from others, and the way that she always made sure to leave her point clear. She did it once more, because these two animals now looked slightly uncomfortable.

"I-I'm sorry, Ms. Thompson, but due to the recent events, and due to the great amount of reporters that were coming here, the authorities thought that it was better to restrict the access to Mr. Hunter, to save him from unnecessary attention." The doctor said, as if he was apologizing to her. "He just came out of a stressful situation, and we thought that it would be better for him to be able to rest without being bothered by other mammals."

Linda looked at him, and she said, "Well, I don't think I'm bothering my boyfriend." She said, and she turned to Alex, "Am I bothering you?"

"Not at all." Alex said with a smile, and she smiled too.

The doctor only looked back at her, and he said, "Oh, okay then, sorry for this." He said, really seeming sorry for talking to Linda like that. "Well, I just going to talk to the officers and let them know that you are here."

By hearing this, Linda immediately tensed, and Alex noticed it quite well, but the doctor seemed to have missed that.

"I'll be back in a few, I just need to find them and-" the doctor was saying, but as he had turned to leave, the door immediately sung shut.

The doctor looked surprised at it, and Ferris himself turned to look at the door that had closed. Moosard walked to the door and tried to open it, but once more, the door, seemingly by its own, shut itself, and right after, the lock of the door moved by itself, locking the door.

Blinking confused, Moosard looked back, and he saw Linda looking at him, and she seemed angry.

"Linda. Linda!" Alex said, placing hands in her shoulders, and the gazelle continued to look at the two mammals, who were now backing away slowly, looking scared. "Linda, calm down." Alex said gently. "It is okay, they are not going to do anything to us."

Linda looked at them, and slowly, she turned her head back to look at Alex, and at his gentle eyes. "We will be fine. Trust me." He said, as gently as possible, and it seemed to be enough. The gazelle looked at him for a few moments, before the tension that was visible in her stance disappeared, and she was able to relax.

However, the two mammals continued to look at her, still scared, but also with some kind of bewilderment.

"So… it is true." Ferris said, "You are a meta mammal too."

"What?" Linda asked, and Alex whispered in her ear:

"That is how they can us, just go with it."

Linda didn't had much time to think of it, but she simply accepted, and she sighed. She looked at them, and she looked at them, and she only nodded.

"T-the door…" Moosard said, gesturing to the door behind himself, and both mammals knew what he was going to answer, Alex looked at Linda, and she looked back at him, before sighing and she nodded.

"Linda is a telekinetic." Alex told to them. "She can move objects with her mind."

Both moose and ferret looked at her, and Linda sighed.

"Watch." She said, as she looked around the room, and saw a cup of glass into the drawer. She focused in it, stretching her hand in direction to the cup, and soon, it started to levitate from the drawer.

Looking over, she made a hairbrush from another nearby drawer to levitate, and soon, she was making both object to move into the air. She made them dance in the air, and as she did, the two animals in there, were watching it as if it was the most interesting thing in the world… and wasn't it?

They looked as she made the two objects fly into the air, right before they flew each one to one of her hands. She looked back at them, and they only stared, unable to think of anything to come up with.

Linda looked at them, and looked at Alex, who looked back at her, before looking back at the two. "Hey, imbeciles!" He said, and the two seemed to snap out of it.

"This is… that… it was so…" Ferris said, unable to finish any of the sentences that he intended. He had just witnessed what many said was nothing but a myth: the true proof of the power of mind over matter. That was the kind of thing that put him into a 360° loop.

"… Amazing." Moosard said, and Ferris could only nod, as this was exactly what he was trying to say, and the best thing that he could come up with in the present situation.

Linda sighed, placed both cup and brush in the bed, and she turned back at them. "So… what happens now?"

"Huh?"

"What?"

"You know what we are." Linda said, and she looked at Alex. "What happens now?"

The two mammals shared a look, they seemed a bit confused by this, and Alex sighed. "You see, being the ones we are, we already faced a lot of problem for this." He explained to them, and he said, "Well, is just that, by facing it for a while you tend to develop trust issues."

"Oh…" Both animals said, quickly understanding what was the point there.

"I see…" Dc. Moosard said, and he looked at the gazelle, who still seemed uncomfortable with their presence. "Well… I guess is understandable. But you don t have to worry about it from us." He said, trying to cheer her up a bit. "I was never the kind of mammal to judge others. If you have those abilities, if anything I'm very thrilled about them."

"Yeah." Ferris agreed with him. "We both don't mind that you have these powers of yours, we won't judge you for this." He said, also trying to reassure her. "Neither for you two being intersexual."

"Being what now?" Alex asked, as both he and Linda looked at the ferret with surprised expressions, and there was an uncomfortable silence following soon after.

"Yeah, I mean…" Ferris said, seeming to be a bit awkward "I mean that we don't really mind for you two being a couple and being of different species."

Both animals blinked as they looked at Ferris, and then at each other. That was probably the first time that they actually realized that they had become two completely different species. Alex was a cougar, a predatory feline, and Linda was now a gazelle, an herbivore animal from Africa.

This detail seemed to have escaped their minds up until Ferris had said it, and it kind of surprised the two. Still, for some reason, this didn't actually seemed to be of any real importance to them.

"Well…" Moosard said, catching again the attention of the two lovers. "The point is, that you don't need to be afraid of us, Ms. Thompson. None of you needs."

He sounded sincere as he spoke that, and Linda looked at Alex one more time, and saw the look in his face, telling her that it was alright. She was able to relax a little, and she looked back at the doctor, as she nodded.

"Yeah, but we still need to talk to Bogo and the others." Ferris said, causing the looks into the room to turn back at him. "I mean… it would be better to let the chief and the others to know that Ms. Thompson is here, instead of having they arrive and find her here and then having to explain to them about her. I mean… it would be more practical this way, right?"

He seemed nervous as he talked, as if he was afraid that the wrong words could cause someone to go really mad at him. There was a brief silence, and Linda sighed, and she said, "Yeah, it is a very good argument."

It was her way of telling him that she agreed with the idea, and with that said, Dc. Moosard said. "So, I'll go search for them." He said, and he turned to the door, he unlocked it and opened it easily, and he said, "Mr. Ferris, I believe that Mr. Hunter and Ms. Thompson would like to stay alone for a while."

The ferret looked at him, and back at the two mammals. "Oh, right!" He said as he quickly rushed in direction to the door, along with the moose.

"We'll be back in a few." He said, and he closed the door, leaving the two animals alone.

There was few moments of silence, and after a while, Linda finally spoke. "They seem to be really nice."

"We, some of them really are." Alex said, and he turned to her, "Some of them are really interesting. You have to meet officers Wilde and Hopps."

"The fox and the bunny, right?" She asked, and Alex looked a bit surprised at her, and she chuckled. "I have been walking into the place since morning trying to learn as much as I could. I heard someone talking about them. A fox and a bunny who are police officers? Sounded interesting…" She said with a smile in her lips, and Alex couldn't help but smile a bit with her.

"Yeah, that bunny is cute, but see seems to be hardcore. The fox guy is a smooth talker." Alex said, telling her the impressions that he had of the duo of cops. "It seems that he is an ex-con artist."

"Yeah… how did you met them?" Alex flinched a bit at this question, and he sighed. Soon he was telling to Linda how he had woke up into the hospital and how he first met with doctor Moosard and with the gazelle nurse. He explained to her how confuse he was, and the impressions that he had later on.

He explained how he escaped from the hospital and later on, he stopped at the "Bug-Burga".

"You ate bugs?" Linda asked with a slightly frown and a mild look of disgust in her face. Alex scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah… when in Rome, like the romans, you know? It was actually very good."

Alex continued to explain to her that he saw himself in a situation where he would need money, he resorted to the thing that he was teach on his youth by that street rat, and he started to muggle wallets from other animals. This, of course, granted him to have Linda giving him a disapproving look with her arms crossed, which made him feel like a young kid who just got caught by his mother with the hands in the cookie pot.

Alex explained to her that he was desperate at the time, and that he needed to have the money to have food and a place to stay, while he figured out what to do next. She seemed to accept that, but she was still very disapproving of Alex's actions.

Alex then proceeded to tell to her about his first meeting with Officer Wilde, and how he they had a talk, before Alex felt the need to go when the fox talked about taking him back into the hospital or to jail. Alex tried to leave, but the fox cuffed him, so Alex had no other choice but to use his powers on the fox so he could escape.

"But I made sure to not hurt him seriously." He said, and Linda nodded, she was not surprised at all. Alex was the kind of person that would hurt others for nothing.

He explained to her that he walked away from the place, and ended up into the mall where there was being the beneficent event, next the two officers found him, and then the robbery took place.

"The rest, well, I guess you can see all of the videos in the internet."

"Yeah, I saw a few of them…" Linda said, and she looked at him. "And, they arrested you…"

Alex sighed. "Yeah, I guess they didn't knew how to deal with me at the moment." He said, and he looked at her. "But, you know what happened?"

Linda looked at him, and Alex spoke. "Some of the animals of the mall stood for me." He said it as if he was still a little moved by the event. "They actually stood in the way of the police and were protesting while the police was taking me… they were saying I was a hero…" Alex couldn't help but smile at this. Linda looked at him as he looked back at her.

"That was what made me simply turn myself in, you know." Alex said, and Linda looked at him as he spoke. "Since they were seeing me as a nice guy, I would not ruin it by fighting the police and painting myself as a criminal. I decided to cooperate, and hope for the best."

Linda looked at him for a few moments, and soon, she was asking, "And what about the bank?"

Alex sighed. "Finn Rhinehart was in the building, that evo with wind manipulation that was famous for taking hostages. He too was brought here, and he got turned into a rhino. He wanted someone to explain to him what was happening, and so he decided to go for me." Alex felt that Linda was tensed as he knew that she had already heard of Rhinehart. "He took hostages into the bank to make the police take me to him."

"And they just handed you to him?" Linda asked, sounded a bit outraged, Alex sighed, and he said:

"Actually, they didn't wanted, but I insisted in coming." Alex said, and looked at Linda, who was looking at him with a serious expression. "What can I say? I like playing hero." Alex said with a smile, and Linda could only sigh and shake her head slightly. She was already too familiarized with Alex's personality to be surprised.

"I got into the bank, we have a discussion that turned into a fight. You might have saw it on the news." Alex said, and there was a brief silence, as Linda nodded, and next thing Alex knew was that Linda had punched him on the arm.

Hard.

"OUCH!" Alex said, as he nursed his bruised arm.

"You could have been killed!" Linda said, and Alex noticed that she was truly worried about him, what was absolutely no surprise to him. He said nothing, as he only looked at her, as the anger in her face melted, leaving behind only the worry, as she reached out and gently took his four-fingered, clawed hand, into hers' three-fingered, hooved one.

"I'm glad you are okay." She spoke softly, and Alex smiled at her. He put his other hand over hers' and he smiled at her, leaning forward to give her a brief kiss on the lips.

"I'm just glad that I can see your face again." Alex said, and these words held much more truth than Alex himself expected, and Linda smiled back at him.

"But… what happens now?" Alex looked at her, and he sighed. "I don't know…" He admitted, and he said, "Well, I guess we will just have to wait and see." He sounded worried as he spoke that, as the threat of things could go into this new world pretty much the same way that they went into the human world. However, Alex was now finding himself more optimistic than he was a few moments ago.

"But, you know what?" He said, as he looked at her in the eyes. "Whatever it is that will come next, I'm pretty sure that I can handle it, now that I have you by my side."

Linda smiled, and she looked at him in the eyes. "You never stop being romantic, do you?"

"Only when you are not around."

She giggled, they remained like that for a while, until Linda brought up another subject that was a matter of attention. "What about the others? Are they in Zootopia too? Are they in this world?"

"Well, you, me and Rhinehart all ended up in here." Alex said, "So, I guess that maybe the others did too, and they must all look pretty different now, and they must be confused…" Alex said, and he turned to her, "I mean, I was confuse when I woke up and saw myself as a puma. And you, weren't you confused by waking up like this?"

She shrugged. "Yeah, I woke up into what seemed to be a small oasis into the desert, saw myself as gazelle into the water, and later on I met a group of talking camels. Yeah, you can say I was confused." She admitted to him.

Indeed, while Alex had ended up into the area of Savannah Central, it seemed that Linda had landed right into the middle of Sahara Square. She explained to Alex that she spent most of the day trying to figure out what kind of place that was, and she ended up taking a train that took her to a tour into the city, which had not only the desert, but also a complete tundra and a rain forest.

"This city is a very strange place." She said, "But I gotta admit, it is really beautiful." She added with a smile, and Alex was able to smile too.

"Yeah, I guess that we are going to be staying in here for a while." He said, "So, I guess it is good that we could start to like this place."

"Now that I know you are here, I like it even more." She said, and she leaned in, to give him yet another kiss. Alex accepted this kiss, and soon, he found himself purring once again, but this time, he didn't actually cared about it. All he cared was the kiss that Linda was giving him, that was the most important thing on his mind at the moment…

* * *

"A gazelle?" Judy asked as Ferris had just told to them about the new guest that had arrived into Hunter's room.

"Yeah, Linda Thompson." He said to both her and Officer Wilder, who he had found into the cafeteria of the hospital. He was quick to bring them both into a table into a secluded part of the hospital where they would have no chance of being heard by others, because it was clear that everyone was wanting any information that they could have about Alex Hunter, and they needed to keep discretion.

"She sneaked into the hospital without being seem." The ferret said.

"So, his girlfriend is a gazelle, hum?" Nick asked, and he sat back, "I didn't took him for an inter." He said, and Ferris and Judy both looked at him.

"A what?" Judy asked.

"Inter." Ferris said, "It is the popular term used to describe individuals that have romances and relationships outside of their species. You know, interspecies, "inter", this kind of thing."

"Oh…" Judy said, nodding. Yeah, she heard a lot about interspecies relationships, and she also met some examples of it in Zootopia. This kind of thing was rather rare into rural areas, like BunnyBurrow, but it was more common on big cities, like Zootopia. It wasn't uncommon to find these kinds of couples walking around the city, if you looked into the right places and with attention.

"And she has powers too?" Judy asked, and Ferris nodded.

"She seems to have telekinesis. She moves things with her mind."

This caught the duo's attention. "Seriously?" Nick asked, "You mean, like those mammals on tv that bend spoons with their thought?"

"She made a hairbrush and a glass cup float into the air." Ferris said, "It was quite impressive."

"Wow…" Judy said, and Nick looked over.

"Man, I wish I was there to see that." He said, and Ferris added:

"She is with Hunter in the room. Moosard and I left them alone to go looking for you."

Judy nodded, and she asked, "And, has she been hostile?"

"Well, when we said that we were going to get you she became distressed, but Hunter calmed her down." He quickly added, by seeing that the two officers had gone into attention. "It seems that she had been through a few things with normal mammals, and she has troubles to trust others because of this."

"I know the feeling." Nick said, remembering bad parts of his past that led him to mistrust heavily in everyone else. Judy knew pretty well what he was talking about, and she could not help but feel sorry for her partner. Still, they had to focus to the situation they had in paws.

"You know if anyone else came in with her? Or if she had help to get inside?"

"Well, you will have to ask her." Ferris said, "She probably is still with Hunter in his room."

"Doing what?" Judy asked, and who answered was Nick.

"Well, I don't know. What two adult mammals, a male and a female, who happen to be lovers, would possibly be doing in a room all alone?" He said as he gently raised his eyebrow to her, suggestively.

Judy groaned as she rolled her eyes, sometimes Nick's way of thinking could really make her feel uncomfortable. She decided to turn her attention back to Ferris. "Does the chief and Razorback already know about it?"

"Know about what?" A voice behind them asked, and they turned to see the familiar one-eyed boar looking down at them, chewing on a sandwich.

There was a silence, as the three smaller animals looked up at the bigger mammal, and shared looks among themselves, wondering just how much the boar had actually heard.

"So, talking about anything interesting?" He asked, and the smaller animals shared another look, before they started to share the story with him.

* * *

"I don't get what you are saying." Bogo said to the phone, and the voice on the other line said:

" _I'm saying that you need to keep an eye on Alexander Peregrine Hunter. A very good eye._ "

"What do you think I'm…" Bogo started to say, but he realized one thing. "How do you know his full name?"

No answer.

"Savage, I made you a question!" Bogo said, and the voice came once more.

" _Bogo, you know that I have my own way of dealing with things. I'll have some of my own personnel going to the city undercover and watching over the situation, you just make sure to keep an eye on Hunter._ " There was a brief silence, and Bogo heard Savage letting out a sigh, and say: " _And one more thing… contact me if Alex Hunter has contact with **any**  other meta mammal. I want to know exactly who else is with him. We'll keep on touch._"

And with that, Savage hung up, and Bogo took his cell phone out of his ear and looked at it.

Damnit, how he hated that habit of Savage! Acting like his own job was more important than anything else!

However, the cape buffalo could not help but to recall this conversation that he just had with Savage, about the thing of the situation being more serious than he originally thought. He didn't gave any details, of course, he only said that it was a matter that demanded his attention.

Now he was going to "send his personnel" into the city to survey the situation.

It seemed that he knew something that Bogo didn't… Well, of course he did, but now it seemed that he knew something pretty important about Alex Hunter. As if he knew that he was going to have meetings with other meta mammals.

Well, it was to be expected, since he talked about some friends of his'.

But… Savage didn't really knew of that, for Bogo had not shared this information with him. Also, there was the fact that the mammal seemed to have used a full name to refer to the cougar. How could he know the cougar's full name?

Had… had Savage already met with him in the past?

"Ah! Chief Bogo!" Said a voice, which pulled Bogo out of his reflections, as he turned around to see doctor Moosard coming to him, and the moose seemed that really wanted to have a word with him. "Good I found you!"

"What is it, doctor?" Bogo asked, and the moose looked back at him.

"Well, it kind of happened something regarding Mr. Hunter." He said, and Bogo immediately had his attention called by this.

"What? He escaped again?" He asked, wondering if it was a bad idea having left him alone with only the doctors and his two small officers.

"No! No, Mr. Hunter is still into his room. He didn't tried anything."

"Then what is it?"

The doctor thought for a moment, as if he was deciding what would be the best way of giving this information. "Well, how to put it… do you remember how Mr. Hunter talked about his friends, and his girlfriend?"

"Yeah, what about it?" Bogo asked, not seeing the point in reflecting about it.

"Well, his girlfriend is a gazelle called Linda Thompson, and she apparently has telekinetic powers."

Bogo looked surprised at this. "What? He started to talk about her?"

"Actually, she is in the room with him."

"WHAT!?" Bogo nearly shouted, and the doctor flinched slightly. There were a few moments of silence, as Bogo reminded himself that he was still into a hospital, and so, he had to keep his voice in check. Still, he was very surprised by the new information that just came from the moose.

"Well, Mr. Ferris and I returned to the room to get a few papers I had forgot with Mr. Hunter's exams, and we returned, she was in there with him." Moosard explained to the cape buffalo. "She said that it was not easy to break inside, and she seemed a little nervous about us talking to you. She tried to prevent us from leaving the room."

Bogo tensed at this. Yet another meta mammal, and this one seemed to actually be more troublesome than Hunter.

"But, it turned out that she was only a bit nervous. Mr. Hunter calmed her down and she even gave us a demonstration of her abilities." He said, and he seemed a bit excited about it. "I never thought I would see something like that in the real life! It was so amazing-"

"She is still in the room with him?" Bogo asked, trying to prevent the doctor from diverging from the important subject.

"Oh! Yes, she is in there with him, right where Mr. Ferris and I left them." The doctor said, "They are both alone in there right now."

"What!? Officers Wilde and Hopps are not in there?" Bogo nearly demanded, and the doctor flinched once more.

"T-they went out for a bit… T-they thought that, after all that happened, they could trust Mr. Hunter enough to leave him alone for a while…"

Bogo sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, and he now wondered what he should do about that. Well, two things were for sure; one, he was definitely going to talk with Wilde and Hopps for leaving Hunter unwatched; and second, since there was a new meta mammal with Alex Hunter, one that he had talked about himself, it was possible that the rest of his friends would come to him also. It seemed that once more Savage had a little bit of reason about this, once the mammal had requested him to keep him on touch if Hunter had contact with other meta mammals.

By the way, Bogo would better call him and tell him about that development, but first, he had to go there to check this whole situation out.

"Lets go to that room…" He said, as he walked back into the room, with doctor Moosard coming right behind.

* * *

Alex continued to purr, while Linda was kissing him deeper and with a bit more of passion. That was not the first time that they kissed like that, and the previous kisses were all pleasant and very good. This new kiss had the new shape of their muzzles, but somehow, it felt just as natural and good to both of them like all of their previous kisses.

The kiss was starting to get heated, and both of them were really getting into it, they barely even heard the door opening. Still, they took a few moments to stop kissing, until they finally realized that there was someone in there, when this someone made a throat-clearing sound.

Both of them looked at the door, and they saw a big buffalo into police uniform in there. Alex already knew Chief Bogo, while Linda had only saw him once in the hallway. She immediately tensed when she saw him, and the buffalo noticed this, and so did Alex. He put a hand on her shoulder, and she looked at him, as he gave her that same look.

"It's okay." He said, and this seemed to be enough to make her clam down. She looked back at the buffalo, who was looking back at her with a neutral expression, as they both analyzed each other.

Linda was looking at that big animal, who seemed like he really could put up a fight. She was confident into her own abilities, of course, and she knew that she could pin him into the wall easily if he decided to attack. Still, seeing such a big creature looking down on her like that was something that made her uncomfortable, like it would for many other creatures.

Bogo looked at the woman who was sitting at the bed with Hunter. She had a somewhat frail appearance, since gazelles were not famous for having a lot of muscle; still, the way she looked at him was one that said that she would not go down without a fight. She seemed determined, and while she seemed a bit intimidated by him, it was clear by the look in her face that she wasn't scared of him, and that she would have a fight with him if there was the need.

There was almost a whole minute of silence, before the big buffalo into police uniform finally spoke. "Linda Thompson?"

The gazelle looked back at him, before saying. "Yes?"

The buffalo walked inside, and he said, "I'm Mason Bogo, Chief of the Zootopia police department." He said as he walked and stood at a respectable distance from both her and Hunter. "If you don't mind, I'd like to ask both of you some questions." He spoke as he picked a chair and sat on it.

Linda looked at him, and back at Alex. The cougar looked at her, and he put his own hand into hers'. This was a silent sign that he was at her side, and that he would be there to support her if she needed at any moment.

This was enough to tranquilize her, as she took a deep breath, and then turned back at the buffalo. "Sure." She said simply, and that was all that she needed to say.

Bogo then started. "Miss Thompson, how did you discovered where Mr. Hunter was?"

"It wasn't hard. He was into the news, and I just had to search for a hospital that had a lot of reporters in the gates." Linda said.

Bogo nodded, and he asked: "And, how did you entered?"

BY the front door." Linda said, "I still don't believe how easy it was to enter here, you need to check better on who comes, I mean, what if I was some psycho?" Linda asked him, and Bogo simply looked at her.

"Yes, but how did you found out Mr. Hunter's room?"

"Some of the nurses were talking about him, and I heard the number of the room. I just had to go in the reception and ask for the directions to the room and they gave me." Linda said, "Seriously, it was too easy, you need more security." She added into a tone of critique. Bogo and Moosard both shared a look, and both were thinking about having a talk with the staff about this kind of thing.

Turning back to her, Bogo resumed his questioning. "Have you came here with someone else? Some other meta mammal?"

"No, I came alone." She said, and she was getting used surprisingly quickly to the term "meta mammal", even though it sounded a bit tacky…

"Are you sure?" He asked, and that was quite a strange question. Both Alex and Linda looked at him, and the buffalo quickly said, "I mean, you could have been followed without you realizing it."

"I'm sure I came alone." Linda said, not liking the kind of things that the buffalo was possibly implying, and she made sure to let it clear with the glare that she was giving him. Bogo looked back at her calmly as she looked at him with a glare that made him feel very uneasy. A glare that he thought that only his wife was able to make.

Returning to the subject, Bogo said, "So, Ms. Thompson, what were your intentions by coming here?"

There was a silence, while she looked at Alex. The cougar looked at her, and he nodded, silently saying her to tell him the truth. Linda was not sure of either it was a good choice or not, but she decided to trust Alex.

"I came here to rescue Alex." She said, and this caused Bogo to perk up into the chair as he looked at her intently. "I woke up this morning lost and alone, and I thought that the others who were with me were dead or something, including my boyfriend. Then I see on tv that he is alive, and that the police has taken him into custody." She was casting a hard glance at Bogo, and he only nodded.

"Go on…"

"I saw that he had a fight with some wind controlling guy, and that the police took him in,  _again_." She spoke as she looked mildly annoyed, and somewhat outraged by this, and the glare she made seemed to be directing her anger towards the buffalo.

 _Wow… she and my wife have the same 'this is all your fault' look_. Bogo thought as he saw the way that she glared at him.

"So, when I heard that he was in this hospital, and I thought that you guys were holding him in against his will, well, I just had to come to go help him escape." Linda said shrugging, as if it was something that anyone would do.

"But, you didn't helped him escape." Bogo said, "Why?"

"Well…" Linda said, "Alex kind of convinced me that staying would be better, because running away would not be good and because you guys actually seem to accept him."

There was another moment of silence in the room, as Bogo processed thig new information, and he looked at the gazelle, and he seemed to be about to say something, when the door opened.

The four animals turned around to look at the door, and they saw four more animals walking in. One big and four small ones.

"Hey, Bogo!" Razorback greeted the buffalo, and he looked over at the bed, to see the gazelle and cougar sitting in it. "And, I assume this is Ms. Thompson, right?" He asked, and the gazelle only looked back at him. Meanwhile, the three smaller animals were looking at their chief, who looked at them with a not amused expression.

It was clear that he was angry with them for leaving Hunter unwatched, and giving him a chance both for that gazelle to swoop into the room unnoticed and for the cougar himself to possibly escape. "Hey, chief!" Nick said, opening his arms wide, and he seemed about to say something, when a single gesture from the buffalo, a finger pointed right at the fox, was enough for him to know that he shouldn't even try, and that he was going to talk to all of them about that later on.

Judy cleared her throat a little, and she decided to try to break the situation a little, as she approached the gazelle, and she said. "Linda, right?"

"Yeah, and you are Officer Hopps, right?" She asked, "You are cuter than on tv."

There was a very awkward silence into the room, and Linda asked. "What?"

"Well… you see…" Judy said, "Bunnies can call each other 'cute', but if other animals call us this, it kind of sounds offensive."

"Oh!" Linda said, and she started to blush from embarrassment. "I-I didn't knew… I didn't meant… I' so sorry…"

"It's okay, really." Judy said.

"I'm really sorry." She said, and she turned to Alex, giving him a punch in the arm. "Alexander Peregrine Hunter! Why didn't you warned me about this!?" She demanded.

"Ouch! I didn't knew either!" Alex said, rubbing his arm. Actually, he really didn't imagined that being called cute could actually be taken as something racial, or even offensive, even though he knew a certain person who would really hate to be called that…

The other animals looked at them as they seemed to be having one of these "couple moments", and it was somewhat awkward. "Sooooo, Thompson, this is your first time in Zootopia?" Nick asked to the gazelle, trying to break the tension, even if a little bit.

"Huh, yes!" Linda said, quite glad for the change of subject. "I never been in a place like that before. It is very nice in here."

"I'm glad you feel welcome." Nick said with his trademark smile, and Judy was able to agree with him. One of the things that Nick was good into, was to relieve the tension into a place with his smooth talking, the same trait that made him a so prominent con artist.

With the moods into the room now calmer, Bogo was able to ask Hunter. "So, your middle name is Peregrine?"

"Yeah, kind of…" Alex said, rubbing the back of his head. Bogo simply nodded. While this, Dc. Moosard now spoke:

"So, is good to see that it is all okay." He spoke as he walked ahead. "So, Ms. Thompson, how long do you plan to stay in here visiting Mr. Hunter?"

"And where can we find you if we need?" Judy asked.

This caused Linda to stop a little, and after a few moments, she said, "Well, I don't really have a place to stay… I mean, I just arrived into the city yesterday night."

Everyone looked at him. Alex was not surprised, since the event that brought him into Zootopia had put him very much into the same situation. There was another silence in the place, as the animals in the room took the information, and soon, Moosard made a suggestion.

"Well, you could stay in the hospital."

All the eyes turned to him as he made that suggestion. "I mean, you could stay here in the hospital for a while with Mr. Hunter, in separate rooms, of course, and while you are here, we can make a few exams."

"Exams?" Linda asked.

"Yes, I mean, like brain resonances, maybe some blood tests."

"You want to make tests on me?" Linda said, immediately growing nervous, but Alex placed a hand in her shoulder. She looked at him.

"Linda, calm down, it is all okay. They are not going to hurt us." Alex reassured her, and Moosard was quick to talk too:

"Of course not! We would never even dream of that! We just want to understand better your abilities and the things you do." He said.

"You mean the mind power thing?" Asked Razorback, and Linda looked at him, and she turned to Bogo.

"Would you stand up a bit, please?" She asked him, and the buffalo looked at her for a moment, before getting up of the chair. Linda looked at the chair, and made a gesture with her hand, causing the chair to move closer to the bed, causing some of the animals in the room to jump in surprise.

Linda then made a pushing gesture with her hand, and the chair moved away. She made a spinning gesture with her finger, and the chair rotated. And with a lateral push of her hand, the chair moved back to the wall, where it originally was when Chief Bogo entered and picked it up.

"What about this for 'mind power thing'?" Linda asked, being slightly amused by the stunned expression in the face of the boar. Bogo was actually able to chuckle to, since it was rare to see someone leave Razorback speechless like that.

"Man, when you think you have already saw everything…" Nick said, and Ferris spoke:

"Ms. Thompson, I think that you should stay into the hospital for a while." He said that to the gazelle, and he spoke, "Since you and Mr. Hunter don't have where to go for now, you could stay hosted in here until you find another place to stay. Also, while you are here you could allow us to run a few exams and tests."

Linda looked at him, and at the moose dressed as a medic, and the look in his face told her that he had very much the same opinion as the ferret. "So, you are saying that you will let me have a place to stay if I let you guys make experiments on me?" She asked, and the tone in her voice was saying that she was not completely fine with that.

"Please, we just want to help you…"

"I already heard that from a guy in a white coat." Linda said darkly, and the way she spoke made it clear that it was not a pleasant experiment.

"We both had." Alex said, placing a hand into Linda's shoulder, making her look at him, as he spoke directly to her. "But these guys never showed any care for us.  _They_  actually are."

Linda reflected on what Alex said, and she realized that he was right. She looked back at the animals, and she saw in their eyes that they really seemed to care about her well-being, unlike other people who she had contact with in the distant past.

"Ms. Thompson, please, we won't do anything that you won't feel comfortable with." Moosard said, "We might even make no exams at all if you wouldn't like, but still, you can stay in here all the time you want, until you have another place to stay."

She saw honesty into the words of the moose, and she looked back at Alex, who was looking her with a look that told her that it was going to be okay. She took only a few moments to make her decision. "Alright." She said to the doctor and the ferret, "I'll stay, and I'll cooperate with your tests. But if anyone comes near me with something to probe me the guy is going to get out of this hospital flying through the window."

The way she talked made the doctor give a step back, and Alex, better than anyone, knew that Linda was most likely able to do so to anyone that actually made her angry. After all, Alex already saw her doing that to some poor lads that dared to try to make her angry, and he knew that a smart guy who knew what she was able to do would not dare to mess with her.

The doctor nodded, "Y-yes, of course. I-I'll let the staff and my colleagues know about it." The moose said, clearly he was not the one that was going to mess with Linda, as well as he was not going to mess with Alex.

"Speaking about it, shouldn't we talk to the other officers and tell them about Ms. Thompson?" Nick said, gesturing to the gazelle.

"That is actually a good idea, Wilde." Bogo said, "I want to know who I'll have to get fired for not guarding well the entrance of the hospital." The buffalo said, and he got up, "Hopps, you come with me, the rest of you, stay in here." He said, and he was now walking in direction to the door, with Judy coming right behind him.

"Wait!" Linda said, causing the two animals to stop, but she looked only at the bunny officer. "In the news I saw that footage." She spoke, as she looked at the bunny. "You were the one who knocked the rhino out."

Well, yeah, kind of." Judy said, feeling proud about herself due to that. It was nothing new to her, once she had already knocked out other mammals much bigger than herself, starting with the "enormous criminal self-defense" tests into the academy.

Linda looked at her, and she said, "Thank you for saving Alex." She did really sounded grateful as she spoke that, and this surprised as few of the animals in the room.

"Oh… You're welcome?" Judy said, feeling the tips of her ears and her cheeks heating up with a blush. Bogo looked between the two females, and he said:

"Okay, now let's get going Hopps. Wilde, no more getting out for snacks! I mean it!"

The fox officer gave him a salute, while the buffalo simply rolled his eyes and walked out, with Hopps going right behind him, the door closed once more, and the room was left into a brief silence, before Alex himself broke it by saying, "I was going to get out of the situation by myself, you know…"

The eyes all turned to him as he spoke that, and Alex finished, "I could have found a way to beat Rhinehart on my own."

"Really?" Linda asked him, "Then why you didn't?"

"She has a point." Nick said, causing Alex to look at him, and back at Linda, and he saw that they both had similar smirks.

"I was going to! Eventually…"

"The images I saw on the tv said otherwise." Linda said.

"Yeah, from where I stood you seemed like you were having your tail handed to you into a plate." Nick said with an amused tone. Alex didn't answered, and instead, he simply looked away as if to avoid having eye contact with the two animals. This caused Nick to chuckle, and Linda actually giggled a little, right before she gave him a kiss in the cheek.

"Anyway, I'm glad that you are okay." She said to him in a loving tone. "And I'm glad that we are together again."

Alex looked back at her, and he smiled. "Me too…" He said, and he put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him. She gladly accepted it, resting her head into his shoulder (the horns were kind of a problem to it, but they managed to, and Alex had a feeling that it was something that he was still going to have to get used with), and she gently rested in him as he used his other hand to hold hers.

They barely even minded that there were others in the room, as they found out comfort and strength on each other, and they knew that, no matter what would come in the future, they both would be able to face it together.

 

 

 


	11. Alex Hunter's Press Conference

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! The new chapter, and this one had less action, but a lot more of plot development! I really hope you all have liked, and I promise that I'll try to make the next chapters a little more filled with action.
> 
> Also, Mayor Amur is part of the headcanons of TheHook1, a fellow from DeviantArt.

One week had passed rather quickly in Alex's eyes. The doctor had kept his word, and both he and Linda were allowed to stay in there for all the week since day the day they both had arrived.

They received their own room, access to most of the place, three meals a day, and even their own privacy and alone time, whenever they needed.

Linda had been hesitant during the first days, but she soon started to grow to trust in Doctor Moosard, and soon, she was feeling comfortable around him. Still, she did not felt so comfortable around the other doctors that came to see her and Alex in a daily basis.

Since their first day, they had been in reunions with teams of medics from the hospital, and even some scientists that had come in there only to see them. They were there to see the "animals with real super powers" with their very own eyes and, of course, to run out some tests with their abilities, to try to understand a bit more about them.

Alex had already been expecting this, and so did Linda, still, doctor Moosard made it very clear to all the involved that both the cougar and the gazelle were going to receive good treatment and that they were not going to be molested in any way.

So, the tests that they ran were limited to demonstrations of their abilities while there were some monitoring machines attached to them, brain resonances, blood exams, and other procedures that would not require surgery and neither would be too invasive. Alex was glad for that, even though he thought that it was somewhat perceptible by the look in the eyes of some of these scientists that they wanted to go deeper into their procedures than what they had already made clear that it was going to be.

Still, doctor Moosard was adamant to any requests that they made to make deeper exams into the two animals, like when one bear, whose name Alex didn't remembered, requested them to make an exploratory surgery into Alex to see if they could find some uncommon organ that did not appeared in the x-rays.

Doctor Moosard immediately requested that bear to be escorted outside and told both the hospital staff and the authorities to keep him away from both the hospital and the two meta mammals into the place, and he made very clear that this was going to happen to anyone else who requested anything similar.

"They are not some test subjects, they are mammals! For Christy's sake! We cannot just treat them as if they were not living beings and do whatever suits us! I don't want to hear anymore suggestions like that, and anyone who has some of them to make might as well get out of this hospital now!"

This event stopped any kind of future request for invasive procedures into the future, what both Alex and Linda were very thankful for, and they both grew to trust doctor Moosard even more after that. And so, the daily tests and requests of the doctors continued, but always respecting the wishes of the two mammals, without them even being forced to continue if they felt tired or uncomfortable, and they had the liberty to refuse any kind of test and walk out at any time that they wanted. Doctor Moosard really was a moose of his word.

"Okay, Ms. Thompson, just one more time." Said an impala in a white lab coat as she and a few more of the doctors and scientists into the room looked at the gazelle. Linda was sitting in a table, with a few wires from a neural-reading machine into her head, as part of a special helmet she was wearing. In the table, in front of her, there were a few pencils and a piece of paper.

Linda sighed, then she looked at the objects in front of her, and she raised one three-fingered hand and pointed it at the pencils. Soon, the pencil started to move, and very smoothly, as if an invisible hand was holding it, it floated into the air, and moved, so its tip was pressing into the paper.

The pencil started to slide over the paper, while the machine that was reading Linda's neural signals was registration every event that went off on her brain, and soon an image was starting to form an image into the paper, drawn by Linda using nothing more than her telekinetic abilities. After almost twenty seconds, Linda had finished, and the pencil laid gently into the table, as the paper now showed the drawing of a flower. It was nothing too impressive, much like those simple drawings that were made by a toddler, but it was made only with telekinesis, so it made it far more impressive than it would be otherwise.

"Very good." Said the impala, picking up the drawing and examining at it, "Very good indeed."

"It is nothing great." Linda said, shrugging.

"Well, you just made it with your mind." Said a tiger scientist, who was holding a camera. "I would call that grrrrrrreat."

Linda blinked as she looked at that tiger doctor, suddenly imagining him with a red handkerchief in his neck and holding a bowl of cereals. "Yeah, I guess so." Linda said, shaking it off as she gestured at the pencils into the table, making them all raise into the air, and floating in direction to the can, gently being put in there.

Another doctor, a badger, asked her, "You always makes gestures to control objects. Would you be able to move them without making gestures?"

Linda looked at him, and she said, "Well, it is easier to me to move things by making these things." She admitted, looking at her hands, "Like when you are trying to remember a song you used to play into the piano, and it is easier to do that if you move your hands as if you were playing the piano. I mean, it is easier to move things if I have an idea of the kinds of things I'm doing with them, but I don't need to do it all the time."

"So, you could do it without any gesture?" asked the impala once more.

"Yeah, but I would have to focus a little harder." Linda admitted, and the doctors all nodded as they talked among themselves, a few of them making notes on Linda's words. Linda only looked at them, and she said, "So, are we done now? I really want to go out and do some other things."

The doctors looked at each other, and the impala said, "Yes, Ms. Thompson, of course. Let us know about some time of your convenience so we can make more tests."

Linda sighed, she removed that techno-helmet thing from her head and placed it on the table, and she got up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind herself as she finally let out a heavy sigh that she had been holding back up until now.

Yeah, these testing that they conducted were tiring. Still, she was glad that they were only "annoyingly" tiring, than the kind of tiring that used to be the tests that were conducted on her when she was younger. Still, many of these doctors had the same look into their eyes as had the ones from her ten-years-old…

"Linda!" A voice called, and Linda turned her head to look at the approaching form of Judy Hopps, clad into her police uniform, waving at her with a smile on her face.

"Judy! Hi!" Linda said, glad to see the friendly face of the bunny officer. Over the last week, some of the police officers of the ZPD had been making guard into the place, for the extra protection of the two mammals into the place, because over the course of one week the craze about Alex Hunter had not diminished. In fact, it seemed that this craze had grown in size only two days later, when a reporter who had come with a hidden camera caught a glimpse of Linda using her powers inside the hospital, and these images were soon broadcasted, revealing to Zootopia that now there were two mammals with super powers in the city. Of course, this intensified the wave of reporters, weirdos, and even some crazy people who wanted to come to them for whatever reason it was, and the police was forced to keep guard into the place to protect the two from any unwanted attention. Some of these officers occasionally happened to be Hopps and Wilde, and this gave the chances that they needed to spend some time around the two meta mammals and actually form bonds with them. In Judy and Linda's case, the two girls soon developed a friendship, mostly because they had a lot in common when it came about their personalities.

"I was looking for you!" Judy said, "How you doing?"

"Just finished another of these tests." Linda said, sounding slightly annoyed as she spoke that. "I can swear that they are only making me repeat the same things over and over again."

Judy nodded, and soon, they were walking away from that door, as they spoke.

"So, is Nick here too?"

"Yeah, my dumb fox rarely stays too far from me." Judy said, and they continued to walk, "He went with Chief Bogo and Ferris, they all came here to discuss a few things with you."

"Me?"

"Well, first we will talk with dc. Moosard, and then we will talk with you and Alex, well, mostly with Alex. Do you know where he is?"

"Having tests into another room, I was just going to find him. What is that you want to talk with him?"

"Well, Chief Bogo knows the details, but it has to do with the situation that there is in Zootopia since you two appeared."

Linda nodded, and she knew that the city was in uproar since they appeared. Starting with all of the social Medias, where both she and Alex seemed to be the main subject. Linda had seen the account of some other animals in the MuzzleBook (Alex had already alerted her that, coincidence or not, this place they were in seemed like a world made out of puns) that there was a lot of discussion going on about them and about what they could be. There were some who wondered if they were some kind of mutation (these were very close to the truth), and some who wondered if they were aliens (there were just slightly right about that), and she saw a few posts claiming that they were some kind of government experiment. There was even an account of someone named only "Honey Badger" that said that the sheep were related to them, either as their creators or their pursuers.

It seemed that everyone was talking about them, and overtime, Linda also heard some more things that were claims of the hospital staff and even of the police officers, claiming that the city seemed to be in a craze about them. There were people outside of the hospital that wanted to talk with them about possible contracts (Linda didn't got details about where or what), people who were asking to take selfies with them or even to get their autographs, and so on with all the things.

However, there were not only good things, for it seemed that there was a good deal of animals who thought that they could be dangerous because of their powers. Some of them even asked if they were really animals or if they were some other kind of strange thing, and if they even deserved rights at all.

These commentaries made her really nervous, and made her have a lot of flashbacks of the human world, and about all the things that followed the great reveal of evos to the world. Still, there were no mass riots and people with torches and forks in hand, so she felt a bit calmer about all of that. Still, she remembered that there were not riots into the beginning, and that they only came later on…

"Linda?" Judy asked, made Linda snap out of her daydream and look at the bunny, who was looking back at her worried. "You went quiet all of sudden, is everything okay?"

"Oh… Y-yes, I was just… remembering things…" Linda said, looking away, and Judy could easily notice that it meant that she was not comfortable to talk about it. So, the rabbit decided to leave it be. "There it is. This is the room Alex said he would be staying." Linda said, as she stepped behind the double-door of the room.

Soon, she gently pushing the doors open, and she and Judy walked into a scene similar to what was happening to Linda into the other room a few minutes ago.

The scientists were sitting around Alex, many of them mumbling with each other, while others were making notes as they looked both at the cougar and at the machines that were wired to him. Alex had his eyes closed, as he was hoovering into the air, small arcs of lightning jumping from his feet and hands into the ground, as the cougar floated slightly into the air, a little less than two feet above the ground. Alex sighed as he leaned forward, floating slowly forward, and he stopped, before leaning backwards and moving back to the place he was.

"This is amazing!"

"The readings of the machine are off-record! He generates so much energy!"

"He needs to generate a great deal of electromagnetism to create this kind of self-levitation! It would be enough energy to power up all of Savannah Central for weeks!"

"Imagine if we could replicate the process! We could create a new kind of electromagnetic vehicle that could make possible any kind of transportation!"

They were so focused into Alex that they seemed not to notice the two mammals who had just entered. Linda and Judy shared a look, before the bunny cleared her throat loudly, catching the attention of most of the animals present, who turned to look at them. Except for Alex, who still had his eyes closed, and his face denoted al the focus that he was making. Slowly, he let out a sigh, as he lowered himself to the ground, and as soon, as his paws touched it, he let out a breath, and he was panting slightly as he put his hands into his knees to support himself as he recovered his breath.

"Are you okay, Alex?" Linda asked, and the cougar looked at her, and gave her a smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine… Is juts that… this trick is hard." Alex said, as he recovered his breath, and he noticed the small bunny officer by Linda's side. "Hey, Judy!"

Judy waved back at him. She and Alex had indeed got a bit closer, as they had a chance to know better each other into the week that had followed. Even though they didn't got as close as she did with Linda, she was much more amiable to Alex than she was when they first went after him one week prior.

"So, doctors, could I take Mr. Hunter borrowed from you just a bit? It is kind of important." Judy said to the doctors, who all shared looks among themselves. Alex answered for them.

"Yeah, I need to take a breather." Alex said, as he removed the wires that were on his arms and on his temples. "I'll be back to this as soon as I can, okay guys? Any doubt, you just search for doctor Moosard." Alex said, and didn't even waited for the answer of the doctors before walking to Linda and Judy. Of course, none of the doctors raised their voices to complain, even though some of them were not happy with the intrusion when they were making some progress like what Alex had showed them.

"Thanks girls, I was crazy to get out of there." Alex whispered to the two females as they walked out of the room.

"They are making you tired too?" Linda asked, and Alex sighed.

"I swear that they are making me repeat the same things over and over again and making all kinds of tests while I do them. I think some of them only want to see me doing it again to be sure that it is no trick."

"Yeah, it must be hard." Judy mentioned, and soon, she said, "Alex, Chief Bogo wants to talk with you two, he says it is important."

"Huh?" Alex looked at the smaller bunny officer, "About what?"

"Well, it has to do with all that is happening into the city right now. He will explain better." She said, and Alex was satisfied with that. "I guess he is talking with doctor Moosard now, we better go find him."

And with that, the two animals started to follow the bunny officer down the halls of the hospital.

* * *

"We have learned so much in the last week." Doctor Moosard said as he tapped the keyboard of a computer with a great screen. "I mean, Mr. Hunter and Ms. Thompson both look like any regular mammal of their species, but they also have some aspects of their biology that somehow differ."

As he spoke, Bogo was leaning by his side, to look at the screen of the computer, and Nick and Ferris both had climbed the desk so they could have a better view of the computer. On the screen, there were several images showing, most of them recordings of the tests that were made with Alex and Linda, both with demonstrations of their powers. As well as images of resonances and electroencephalograms of them.

"Do you see this?" The doctor pointed as the image of a brain resonance appeared into the screen. "We made these while they were actively using their special abilities, and they both demonstrated that during this time they activate a specific area of the brain that is located into the superior area of the brain, and you can notice that it overlaps with the limbic system."

"Limbic… system?" Nick said, quite unsure.

"It is the area of the brain that is responsible for the emotions and emotional responses." Ferris said, filling Nick in, who answered with a simple "Ohhh."

"Does this means their powers are connected to their emotions?" Bogo asked, and doctor Moosard said.

"Considering the fact that this area is at least partially located into the limbic system, I wouldn't be surprised if high activity of that area could affect that area of the brain and cause strong emotions to activate their abilities. But I'm still not sure, it would require more exams, and maybe some tests, but they would be too unpleasant to them."

Bogo nodded, and Ferris said, "So, you have notice other peculiar things into their biology or anatomy?"

"Well, the x-rays and ultrasounds showed that their anatomy seems not to differ at all from the regular for their species. But, we noticed something peculiar when we made some blood tests." He said, as he tapped more into the keyboard. "Officer Wilde, do you remember eight days ago when I called you and officer Hopps, and said that Hunter's antibodies seemed strange?"

"Vaguely." Nick said, and the doctor said:

"Well, we made more analysis, and also looked it into the electronic microscope, and we were able to observe it better." As he spoke, another window popped open into the screen of the computer, this one showed what seemed to be an antibody, and it was round and slightly amorphous.

"This is one of his antibodies?" Bogo asked.

"No." Doctor Moosard said to the buffalo. "This is the antibody of a regular cougar…. This one…" He said, pressing more keys, and opening a new window. "Is one of Alex Hunter's antibodies."

This antibody was clearly different from the other, starting with the shape. While the other was round and amorphous, this one has a more defined shape. It was still amorphous and gelatinous, but it also had a distinctive shape, which made it somehow look like a very rudimental, three-dimensional star of four points.

"Wow…" Ferris said, since he was probably the one in there who the more understood of science and biology, and knew how uncommon that antibody looked.

"Yeah, I thought the same thing." Moosard said, and he added, "We also observed something similar into Ms. Thompson antibodies." He tapped some more keys, and opened another window, which showed an antibody that was very similar to Alex's. "This is one of her antibodies, and you can notice the similarities."

"Yeah, they look a lot alike." Nick said, and Bogo simply looked at these two antibodies, that actually looked nearly identical.

"The geneticists took a closer look into them, and they discovered that they have a mutated gene in the RNA." He said, pressing a few more keys and opening a window that showed what seemed to be a helix of RNA. "This mutated gene seems to be what makes them have this appearance. Other than that, the genetic code is not that different from others of their species."

"Wow, wow, wait." Nick said, "A cougar and a gazelle who have the exact same thing on their DNA?"

"You would be surprised, Wilde." Ferris said, "Practically all species share very much the same genetic board. Even species completely different from each other share at least a few common genes. In some cases, only a few genes can actually differ a certain species from another."

"Indeed." Doctor Moosard said as he looked at the windows into the screen. "In fact, this particular mutant gene seems to be shared by both Mr. Hunter and Ms. Thompson, and I have to say that I never saw it in any other mammal before."

"So, it might be what gives them their powers?" Bogo asked.

"Maybe. But saying that with absolute sure would require a much deeper analysis, and until then, anything I could say about that would be mere speculation."

"So, can you analyze this gene and maybe give us some answers about them, or their powers?"

"Mr. Bogo, I see that you don't understand completely what this entails." Doctor Moosard said, turning away from the screen and looking at the buffalo. "The geneticists who looked at the gene all agreed that it is different from everything that they ever saw, and that it seems to interact with the rest of the genetic board on a different way. They would have to study it for years before they would be able to come up with any possible conclusion about that or about what it could be."

Bogo looked at him, and let out a sigh. Yeah, he should actually be expecting something like that, for he knew that the scientific things took time. Still, he thought that it would be better to have at least a few solid answers right at the moment, at least more than the ones that he just received.

"Just one gene made them have superpowers?" Nick said, still looking at the screen. "Man, I guess that they are really saying the truth about genetic lottery…"

Before anyone could come up with an answer, there was a knock on the door. "Who is it?" Doctor Moosard asked, and the answer came from Judy's voice.

"Is officer Hopps in here, Hunter and Thompson are with me. Is Chief Bogo in there?"

"Hopps, come in." Bogo called, and soon, the door opened, and the three mammals walked into the room.

"Bogo. You wanted to see us?" Alex asked, and the buffalo locked eyes with him, and he sighed, and he said:

"Yes. Yes I did." He turned to the moose, and said, "Doctor, would you please let me have a word with them in private, this is a business that is exclusively between them and the ZPD."

"Oh… right." The doctor said, and picked up his things, closing the windows in the screen and turning of the monitor. He walked out, passing by Alex and Linda, while he said, "Good morning." And he walked out, closing the door behind himself and leaving the all the other animals in there.

There was a few moments of silence, before Alex spoke. "Well, I guess it really  _is_  important."

"Yes it is." Bogo said, as he looked at the two animals with his hands folded behind his back. The buffalo let out a sigh, and he said, "Well, I know that you two are aware that since you two came along, the city has been… agitated."

"Yeah, I guess it is a way of saying it." Alex said, and the buffalo looked back at him.

"Of course, it seems that you two have fans, and they are not few, but at the same time, it seems that some animals are somewhat nervous about this whole situation." He continued as he looked at both cougar and gazelle. "Mostly because they don't know exactly what is going on."

"Yeah, I guess that is normal." Alex said, and Bogo nodded.

"Yeah, it is, that is why the City Hall has decided that, to calm them down, it would be better to finally give them a few answers." The chief concluded, making Alex and Linda share a look among themselves.

"So, you called me here to say that you finally decided to share some information with the reporters?" Alex asked.

"I called you here, because I want  _you_  to share information with the reporters." Bogo concluded.

This took Alex back, who looked at him surprised, and so did Linda, as they both looked to the buffalo who had just gave them this information.

"Say what now?" Alex asked, slightly baffled "You want  _me_  to take part on a press conference?"

"I would rather put someone else in it, maybe myself." Bogo admitted, "But the guys of the City Hall have decided that it would be better if it were you. After all, you are the 'Lightning Cougar', and as far as we know, you are the guy who is at the center of everything in here."

Alex looked at him, and back at Linda, and she looked back at him, and he looked back at the buffalo, who continued to look at him.

"Well, if you don't want to you can just say, I'll find someone else to talk to these vultures. Maybe Ferris." He said, causing the ferret to perk his head as he heard his name being spoken. "But I suggest you to answer soon, because the press conference has already been marked to this afternoon."

"Wait a minute!" Alex said, "You have come to ask me to talk in a press conference  _after_  the conference has been marked?"

"Yeah, it is sudden, I know, but they want it like that." Bogo said, seemingly to be annoyed by that. "Apparently things are getting heated around the city, with some guy who is trying to incite riots around the city because of you two. Something about you being monsters and that you two should be locked down before you would hurt innocent mammals. We had to take him in three times in the last week for disturbing the peace."

Alex looked at Linda, who shared the same look that he had on his face as Bogo spoke about that. Well, maybe they both knew that it was a matter of time before the first of these guys appeared…

"Yeah, the guy never shuts up, and he is quite a struggler." Nick added, "Most of these wackos are."

"Still, because of him the mayor is worried that things might actually get worse if people don't start to receive some answers now. They are already talking about all kinds of conspiracy theories out there, thinking that you might be some new kind of weapon from the government, or alien invaders, or whatever. They want some real information, and since you are in the center of that, the mayor wants you to be the one who will give this information to them."

Alex looked back at the buffalo, and he asked, "So, they want to hear it right from my mouth, right?" Bogo only looked back at him, reading his expression.

"I know that it is all too sudden, and you have all the right to not want to take part of it." Judy said to him, catching both his and Linda's attention. "But, I guess that it would be more convincing to them if they heard you speak those words. Just tell them your side of the story, the same things that you told us a week ago. Some of they are starting to get scared, and maybe hearing your story, and knowing the things that we already know, will help to calm them down a bit."

Alex looked at the bunny, and he was forced to admit that she had a certain reason. Back into the human world, much of the trouble came from people not truly understanding evos, not knowing where they came from or how to tell one of them from a regular human. They didn't knew their moralities, or if they would or not use their powers against them. People were scared, and as a friend told him, "fear has its origins in the lack of knowledge".

Looking back at Linda, she looked back at him, as if she was waiting his decision, just like everyone else into the room. Alex sighed, and somehow, part of him knew what he had to do.

"Okay." He said simply, as he turned back to look at Bogo, and he said, "Call your mayor, and tell that I'll make the speech."

* * *

_Two hours later…_

Alex was into a police car, with Linda by his side, as they were being drove by Bogo himself in direction to the City Hall, where Alex was going to talk into the press conference. During all that time, Alex passed and repassed about anything that he could and would say in that conference.

Well, he was sure that he was going to tell them pretty much the same things that he said to the officers and to doctor Moosard. That his abilities were a fruit of a genetic mutation into his body, and that he had them since he was young. Alex knew that he was going to have to tweak a bit the same parts that he did with the officers. Starting with the thing of the human world, for he was sure that talking about alternate dimensions where animals had not evolved and the only dominant species was something that they had never seen or heard about was a bad idea. At least for now.

By his side, Linda was sitting and she was looking at the windows as they were being driven in direction to their destiny. Meanwhile, she had a chance to catch a better glimpse of the city of Zootopia, once she was quite in a rush in her first day, and since after that she basically had stayed in the hospital. Now she had a better chance to admire the landscapes of the area known as Savannah Central, and she had to admit that it was pretty nice.

As she walked, she suddenly felt something buzzing into her thigh, catching her attention, and she looked at it for a moment, before realizing that it was her cell-phone, and that it was vibrating in a way that it was letting her know that she had just received a text message.

She looked at her cell phone, wondering just who could be sending a message to her… when she realized that someone was sending a message to her!

Looking over, she saw that Bogo was still with his eyes into the road, and she looked at Alex, who was leaning back into his seat, and she gently poked him. Alex looked at her, and she pointed at her cell phone, and she mouthed a word to him, that he soon could read as "message".

Alex blinked at her, and he looked back at the phone. Oh, right! She was telling him that she just got a message on her phone. Well, that was nice, but Alex wondered why she wanted him to know, and why was she mouthing instead of simply saying it. When it hit him.

Alex and Linda had arrived into this world just eight days ago, and ever since that day, they barely had contact with anyone outside of the hospital and the police officers, and none of them had Linda's number. But their friends had! It could be one of them making contact!

Alex was about to say something to her, but she gestured for him to remain silent, and she looked back at Bogo. Alex quickly understood what she meant. Even though they had grown to trust into the ZPD, they still knew that some of their friends would probably have some reservations about that. They didn't had to share everything with the ZPD, at least not yet.

Alex knew that it was a great thing that one of their friends was making contact. Maybe to try to regroup or to hear something of them. But… why making contact now? After more than one whole week? Could it mean something?

The two human-turned-mammals looked at each other, almost as if they were trading some short of telepathic communication, and they nodded at each other.

Silently, Alex leaned on, and Linda too leaned on back at him. Anyone who looked, including Bogo, through the rearview mirror, would simply assume that they were getting comfy by resting in each other's shoulder. But Linda was holding down the phone, and she unblocked it, and quickly she was scrolling it, until she found the message of a new text message.

It said, unknown number, and the title of the message only said:  _"SHOW THIS TO HUNTER NOW!"_

Alex and Linda shared a subtle look, and Linda tapped into the message to open it. The message was somewhat long, and it said the following:

_Alex Hunter, you are about to give a press conference to several reporters who will surely not hesitate into using anything you say as a way to have more audience. You need to know exactly what to say so you won't turn this into a mess even bigger than it might become in the closer future._

_First of all, you probably already realized that you should not mention humans or the human world, for it seems like a bad idea. Well, it IS a bad idea, and I strongly recommend you not to do so. Believe me, the last thing you want is someone thinking you are a dangerous lunatic with super powers, you DON'T want this kind of attention._

_Also, avoid mentioning anything that would refer to the human world, including the term "evolved human", instead, I recommend you to use the term "meta mammal", maybe it is one that the ones of this world can deal better with._

_I also strongly recommend you to avoid sounding like you think badly of the ones who don't have powers, either by thinking them to be monsters or being inferior to you in any way. If they think you don't like them they are more likely to start having something against you. And don't make them nervous about talking about whole groups of dangerous super powered individuals, but feel free to tell them what you think it is okay, just don't give them any reason to panic._

_Also, avoid mentioning too much about your past, because, as you know, this world has concepts that might not fit with your past, and your past into the human world might present them with concepts that might be very strange, even disturbing, to this world._

_Other than that, try to be honest with them, and don't fuck it up!_

That was all that the message said, and both Alex and Linda had wide eyes as they looked at each other after reading the message to the end. They both shared a look, as they both knew exactly what the kind of content into the message entailed.

It was someone who knew about the human world, and about evos, and pretty much, meant that this person knew about everything else. They immediately thought about their friends, any of them could have sent that message to Alex.

But… who?

Alex was thinking about it, and after a while, thinking about each one of them, and Alex finally thought of someone who could have possibly sent that message to him.

"Jeff…" Alex said in a whisper, making Linda look up at him, and she looked back at the message, and then at Alex, who was still looking at the message that was just sent. Just as that happened, they heard Bogo curse.

"Damnit! They already started to crowd the place." The cape buffalo said as he approached, and the two animals looked away from the cell phone and into the windows of the car. They almost immediately saw the windows being crowded by several animals with cameras, microphones, and paper blocks, all of them coming into the car, and they seemed to be making many questions at the same time. They soon were blinded by flashes as the animals tried to get shots of them, and they were forced to look away, as Bogo continued to drive, albeit more slowly, through the living mass of reporters and newsmammals.

Soon, they were forced away from the car by some of the officers, who were preventing them from getting too close to Alex and Linda, as the two animals who got so famous into the past days, came out of the car. Chief Bogo, who snorted a "vultures" at the reporters who seemed that they almost wanted to jump into the two animals, immediately scouted them into the building of the city hall.

Linda felt a bit overwhelmed by that, and she was nearly clinging into Alex's arm, as if she was searching for shelter within him. Alex too felt a bit overwhelmed with that, as he looked at the great amount of reporters who seemed to have come there specifically for this even. It almost seemed like a circus.

"Sorry about that." Bogo said to the two as they finally were away from the reporters, and still, they had a place where they could see very well them gathering into a crowd, very in front of the place where Alex would be talking. "Hard to believe how fast they. Mayor Amur only announced the press conference half an hour ago!" He sounded mildly annoyed at this, and he looked at the reporters all gathering up.

As Alex saw all the people who he would be talking to, suddenly, he started to have second thoughts about that.

This wasn't just any speech that he was going to be given. It was going to be a speech that he would give in name of all of his friends! Only then it seemed to finally be damning into him, and he suddenly realized that if he said the wrong thing he could be the one who was starting the very same events that had unfurled back into the human world.

Oh crap, what was he thinking!?

Alex stared at the place where he was supposed to go, while Bogo walked to there, and the reporters seemed to get feistier as the cape buffalo climbed in there and talked to them, something about the events that had transpired into the last week, and how it was time for the city to have answers. But Alex was barely even listening, he seemed to almost have frozen.

Linda looked at him, and she put a hand on her shoulder, feeling a slightly surge of static that was forming into Alex. Still, she was too used to it to get startled, and she only said. "Alex?" The cougar blinked, and looked at her, and he was about to say something to ehr, when a familiar voice came.

"All okay, Hunter?" The two animals looked over to see the two approaching ones. Wilde and Hopps. "Man, this looks like a circus. Look at all those clowns!" Nick said as he gestured to the crowd of reporters, and Alex simply looked at him, before looking back at the people he would talk to. People who could easily distort his words and turn them into something that would make life a living hell to any of his friends who had ended up into that strange world. Much like what happened when they were all still humans.

"I-I can't…" Alex said, giving a step back, making the three animals look at him. "I just can't… I don't know if I should…" He seemed about to turn away and flee, when Linda placed both hands on his shoulders, and made him look at her.

"Alex, you made me come to here and I don't want to believe that it was just so I could see you chickening out and running away!" She said to him into a firm voice. "They want you to talk, so I really think that you must go there and talk! Because you said that you would do it, and my boyfriend is not the kind of guy who goes back on his word." She said firmly to him.

Seeing the look into her face seemed to erase at least part of Alex's doubt, and he looked at her, feeling strangely reassured as he looked at her eyes, much like he always did when he was having a trouble.

"Yeah, press conferences are not that bad… Even though the last one I was in was not very pleasant…" Nick admitted as he adopted a kind of sad look, and so did Judy. The bunny sighed, and looked up at Alex, before she said. "Just go there and be honest with them… and… think about something before speaking it…" She said, and Alex almost had the impression that, to her, it was some kind of personal advice.

Looking at her, and back at Linda, Alex felt his doubts easing up, and he soon heard Bogo's voice.

"So, in order to explain in more details what is going on, Mr. Alex Hunter will answer some of your questions."

As soon as these words were said there was an uproar from the crowd, as they started to take flashes, and to make several questions at the same time. The buffalo got down and looked back at the cougar, who locked eyes with him. Bogo looked at him, almost as if he was asking him silently if he was going to back away now or not. In a second, Alex made his mind. He already came to there, and he was going to the end.

Alex adopted a more confident look, and nodded at the buffalo, who nodded back at him. Alex rested his own hands into Linda's, and soon, he was walking to stand in front of the crowd, while she and the other animals looked at him go.

Alex felt a knot tying strongly into his stomach, while his heart was beating faster and his chest felt heavier, making it harder for him to breathe. Each step he took seemed to land loudly into the ground, even though he had new, padded feet, which made his steps much lighter than before.

He stood in front of the pulpit, the microphone in there right in front of his face, as Alex was somewhat blinded momentarily by the lights of the video cameras. His eyes soon adjusted, and he was able to look at the reporters in front of him, all of several species, from beavers to giraffes, and all of them asking questions. They were talking all at the same time, and Alex actually had trouble to keep up with them.

"I… I just… I don't… I want to… Stop it, stop it now!" Alex nearly screamed, startling the crowd of reporters, who all looked at him in silence. "Just… just one question at a time, please…" Alex said, and soon, many of the reporters were raising their hands into the air, all of them having questions.

Alex looked at them, trying to decide which one he should answer first. He end up pointing at one of them. "You, the tiger with red and yellow stripped shirt."

The reporter put his own mic close to his mouth, and he asked. "Mr. Hunter, what exactly are you? I mean, we know that you are a cougar, or at least looks like one. But how can you do what you do? Is this some kind of mutation, or is it a trick?" And he put his mic in direction to Alex, and the cougar could see that many of the presents, if not all of them, were doing the same.

Alex hesitated a little before answering, but he said, "Well, my abilities are not a trick, in the proper sense… well, how to explain… I have my abilities thanks to a genetic factor in my blood."

"So, are you a mutant?" Another reporter asked, this one was an impala. Alex looked at her, and he wondered what he could answer about that. He remembered the message that they received a few minutes ago, and he decided to go along with it.

"Well, you see… I am… a meta mammal." He said, and the words came out of his mouth with surprisingly naturally. As soon as he spoke that, the reporters all were making several other questions at the cougar, and Alex was a bit overwhelmed. But he was able to recover, and he was able to point at another of the reporters, this one a capybara, and she understood that Alex was going to answer  _her_  questions.

"So, how you acquired your abilities? It was due to some accident, or due to an experiment?"

"My abilities came from my DNA." Alex said to her, "I have them since I was young."

"So, you have had them for years?" Another reporter asked, and Alex was soon getting into the swing of talking.

"Yeah, I had a lot of time to practice with my powers." Alex said, and the reporters continued to give him questions.

"So, what has led you to reveal your powers to the world now?"

"I didn't actually planned any of that." Alex admitted, scratching the back of his head. "You see, I just happened to stumble into events where I had no choice but to use them. Maybe it was fate?"

"Mr. Hunter! What about the gazelle and the rhino? Are they like you?"

Alex looked at him, and he said, "Yeah, they are quite like me, but not quite. They have powers too, Linda is a telekinetic, and that guy from the bank, Flinn Rhinehart, is a wind manipulator."

"There are others like them? Like you?"

Alex felt himself tense a little at these questions, but he was able to stay as firm as it was possible to him. He wondered how exactly he could explain to them about that without letting out much about his past and about the events of the human world. He opted for a small speech. "You see, genetic mutations are the source of all life in the world. These were the things that allowed the first living beings to change from small organisms to greater and complex species."

Alex looked at the reporters, as they all had their eyes glued on him. "Genetic mutation was what granted us all our characteristics, or qualities, or sentience, and allowed us to become what we are now. Many of what we do, and of what we are, is determined by our DNA. Even now, with our apparent complete domination over the world, the process of genetic mutation still occurs, and as a result we continue to change and… well, to evolve."

"So, sometimes appears someone who has a characteristic that no one else has, like being born with an extra limb, or with some natural ability to do things. The same thing applies to… us meta mammals." Alex made a pause, and he sighed, "So, yes, there are others like me around."

Another round of frenzied questions, coming from all of them reporters.

"Are they dangerous?"

"They have abilities like yours?"

"Do you have contact with any other of them?"

Alex was really getting tired of feeling so overwhelmed by the questions all the time. Still, he knew that now that he was in there, he had to go with it until the end. "You, the bison!" Alex said, pointing at yet another reporter, who quickly made a question that possibly many of them had in their minds.

"Mr. Hunter, how come no one ever saw or heard of anyone like you up until now? Why were you hiding?"

Alex stopped for a moment at this question, and remained in silence. The reporters all looked expectantly at him, and so did Linda and the others, who looked at him somewhat worried. In his mind, Alex was wandering back at some dark times on his past, on the  _facility 20_. He shuttered, somewhat visibly, and this made all of the reporters look at him.

Alex looked forward, and he said, "There were… already some people who knew about us…" Alex admitted, and the reporters all were looking at him, and approaching their mics even more. "These people had their own goals in mind. These people… they came after some of us…"

The reporters all mumbled among themselves, as they were making sure not to lose a single word of what the cougar was saying. "Some said that they wanted to help, that they wanted to understand what made us different and maybe fix it… These people…" Alex stopped, and he was visibly becoming shaken as he spoke. He made a pause and he took a few gasping breaths, as the whole crowd looked anxiously at him.

After Alex recovered, he turned his eyes back at the crowd, and he looked to have recovered his control. He continued. "The world can be really cruel with the ones who are different." He spoke simply, and the reporters all looked at him. "Be it in people who don't understand you and see you as strange or dangerous, or in your own parents who sue you away because they can't understand you. Being different sometimes means that you are in for a lot of trouble in the future."

"When I was younger, I heard about a boy in a small city who could heal and kill others only by touching them. He was scared of his own abilities, but he was a good guy. But the city didn't thought like that. They saw him as a monster, they were scared of him, and they wanted him gone. That boy was mauled by the city, and the irony is that, with his ability, he could simply touch them and kill them, but he chose not to. He refused to harm them and simply stood there and took what they threw at him. Still, they killed him, only because they didn't understood him, or his abilities."

The reporters continued to listen to them, and Alex sighed, before saying: "I think all of us went through it. Being feared, being rejected, being persecuted. We all passed through it one way or another, so many of us have learned to be afraid of the world. We learned that to protect ourselves, we should avoid being on attention, and we should never let others see what we could do… That was one thing that I learned…"

The reporters continued to look up at him, and Alex raised his head, and he said, "But, there are times in which you just can't hide anymore. There are times in which lowering your head and blending into a crowd is just not an option. When these times come, you have to raise your head and let everyone know that you are there, and that you won't back down, and you have to be ready to deal with the consequences of your actions." As Alex spoke, he looked at all of the reporters in there, all different kinds of animals, and he sighed, before saying. "What can I say? I'm just a cougar. I made a decision, and I know that it will have consequences, but I'll take them. I'm ready to face this world. I just hope that this world is also ready for us."

The reporters once more started to bombard him with questions, but Alex felt like he had already spoke enough to them, so he simply went down from the place and walked away, all the while the other reporters continued to bombard him with questions, following his movements with their cameras.

"Mr. Hunter, wait!"

"Just one more question!"

"Do you know the names of other meta mammals?"

"Where do they live?"

"How we identify one of them?"

"How many of the meta mammals are dangerous?"

They would have kept going after Alex, but they were stopped by a wall of police officers, all of which would not let them get any closer to Hunter. Alex sighed in relief for them, and he turned his attention back at Linda, who was smiling at him.

Alex approached, and she said, "That went very well."

"Well, it is still early to say." Alex said, giving her a weak smile.

"Oh, cheer up! It was really nice." She spoke, and as she did, her cell phone vibrated. She looked at it, and saw that there was a new message. She opened, and read what it said, and she opened a bigger smile. "And someone else seems to think the same. " She showed Alex the new message, which only said:

_Well done, Hunter._

Alex read it, and somehow it assured him, and he and Linda were able to share a smile among themselves.

"Yeah, this was surely good." Nick said, "Now we must just hope that no funny guy into the news try to use it to evil instead of good."

Alex chuckled a little at him, and Judy came right next to him, "Well, I can see that for someone who looked nervous you did really good." She smiled at him, and Alex was able to smile back at her. He was glad that she had become very more amiable to him in the last week, and that now he was able to start to consider her his friend.

"Lets hope that this is enough to calm the moods of the city now." Bogo's voice came as he approached the animals, and they looked at him. "Lets go back to the hospital now, before some of them manage to break through the officers."

Alex nodded. There were moments that Alex really felt like the hospital was almost a prison, but still, compared to what he had just went through with the reporters and all of that attention and the nervous feeling that he got from all the cameras and questions, he was eager to go into a place where they would not get to him. It would be better if the place was an actual house, but since the hospital was the best that he had, it was where he and Linda were going.

Of course, leaving the place would not be as easy as it was getting in, because the reporters seemed not to be ready to leave them go yet. They continued to crowd them and to give Alex all kinds of questions.

"Mr. Hunter, there are other meta mammals living in Zootopia?"

"Do meta mammals have some special characteristic that is common to all of them?"

"Are you able to sense the presence of others like you?"

"Mr. Hunter, what are the chances of other meta mammals to be a threat to society?"

"Would you say that it might be needed to form a party to search for other meta mammals?"

"Mr. Hunter, do you think that there are meta mammals who would use their abilities to practice crimes and break the law?"

It took some effort, but the buffalo was able to make them pass through the great sea of reporters, all the while saying things like "nothing more to say" and "no commentaries". After a while of forcing their way through them, Alex and Linda finally were able to reach the car, and as the doors closed, the reporters continued to taking shots of them through the windows.

"Man, these guys are wild!" Alex said as they finally had some semblance of peace, and Linda could only take out a loud breath she had been holding. They had took nearly twenty minutes to reach the car, and it was only thanks to Bogo, who intimidated most of them, otherwise, Alex and Linda were pretty sure that they would have to resort to their powers so they could pass.

As she breathed, she heard the ring of her phone. She was so tired that she barely realized that it was her phone, and she simply took it to her face, and she only said, "Linda Thompson, who is it?"

It took only one second, before she opened her eyes, and said in surprise. "Jeff!?"

Alex jumped too as he herd what Linda just said, and he looked at her as she now was on the phone. "Oh my God! It is really you! Jeff, where are you?"

Bogo had entered the car, he then noticed the gazelle talking at the hone with someone, and he noticed that she seemed to be getting agitated. "What is it?" He asked as he turned around to look at them.

"It is Jeff!" Linda said to him, "One of our friends! Jeff, where have you been? We haven't heard from you in days!" She said, and she remained silent as Jeff was talking to her in the other line. "Wait, wait, Podunk? Wait, why is your voice so high-pitched?"

Alex looked at her, and she continued to listen to the one on the other end of the line, as he spoke to her. "Yes… Ah ha… Yeah… Okay… I see… So, when will you arrive? Twenty minutes?... Okay, okay we'll be there. See you soon." She said, and she hung up on her phone, looking at both Alex and Bogo, who both looked at her.

"It was Jeff?"

"Yeah, it sounded like him… kind of… He said that he want to meet us, he is coming to Zootopia by train, and he will arrive at the Savannah Central Station in twenty minutes."

"Wait a minute." Bogo interrupted, prompting the two animals to look at him. "This 'Jeff', is he another meta mammal?"

Alex and Linda shared a look, knowing that they better not lie to Bogo, for it would jeopardize the trust that they have been building. "Yeah, he is." Linda said, and she added, and he also said that you could go with us to the station to receive him if you wanted, as well as Hopps and Wilde."

"He knows about us?"

"He knows a lot of things." Alex said, and he added, "And he really want us to go to the station to meet him?"

"He said that he wants to talk to us, since he is having trouble to find the others. It seems that he called us from a borrowed phone, because he lost his own." Linda said, looking at the cougar, and then back at the buffalo. "He really said that he wanted to see some familiar faces and to talk about what is happening."

"So, he thinks that he can just met up with you two at the station?"

"And he can't?"

Alex and Bogo shared a look, as the buffalo said, "Well, I'm not sure if it is secure to let you two meet with a meta mammal I don't know."

"We know him. He is our friend."

"Yes, but the Savannah central station is a crowded place, and after what happened, I'm not sure that it would be good for you to go to a place with lots of people." He admitted, and he added, "They would be all over you, and you two are already getting to be quite famous, you would call a lot of attention."

They had to admit, the buffalo had a good point.

"Maybe we can use some disguise, maybe a hooded jacket and some sunglasses." Alex suggested, "I mean, none of them has ever seem us personally and up close, right? I don't think they even really know how Linda looks like, they would probably mistake her by any other gazelle."

Bogo looked at them, as he pondered this whole situation. After a few moments of silence he said, "You two trust this guy?"

"He is one of the ones we trust the most." Linda said, and Alex agreed with her. Bogo continued to look at them just for a few more moments, before he sighed in defeat. He turned around, started to car, and he picked up the radio.

"Hopps, Wilde, are you two there?"

" _Here is Wilde talking, Chief, what's up?_ "

"Change in the schedule, we are not going back to the hospital yet, we are heading towards Savannah Central Station." He spoke, "Hunter and Thompson just received a call from a friend of theirs, and they are going to meet up in there. We are going with them." That was all that he said, before he turned the radio off, as if these words were enough for the two officers, and he knew that they were going to follow it.

He looked at the two mammals on the backseat through his rearview mirror, and he said, "I really hope that you two don't make me regret this." He spoke, and he started to drive. As he did, Linda and Alex both shared a look among themselves, and as they did, they both had a lot of questions going on through their heads.

Like, why didn't Jeff called sooner? What kind of animal had he turned into? And why was he insisting on meeting them right into the Savannah Station, instead of arriving and going to look for them later?

Well, it seemed that these and more questions were going to be answered pretty soon…

 

 


	12. Jeff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex and Linda both have a meeting with their old firend, who has a new face that surprises both.
> 
> As they stop to try to discuss about their current sittuation, things get somewhat complicated as an hostile individual approaches them.

Their schedule was pretty simple: get out of the hospital, go to the press conference, let Alex speak, break away from the reporters, and drive straight back to the hospital. It was simple, fast, and safe; however, they had a change in it in the last moment.

Instead of heading straight to the hospital, the group had to reroute their path in direction to Savanna Central Station, the train station located into Savanna Central, from which arrived nearly all of the trains of the city, both to and fro other districts and outside of Zootopia itself.

Both Nick and Judy were a bit worried about this change in schedule, since the chief was not the kind that made changes like that in the last minute. Still, they knew that if he decided to make this change there was probably a very good reason for this.

Once they got closer, Alex and Linda both could notice that the place was  _big_. It fit easily many animals, including elephants and giraffes, into it, and it still had a lot of spare room that allowed the animals to roam freely into it, and there really were  _many_  of them. The bad thing was, with so many animals in there, many of them looking into their carrot phones, iPaws, and similar, there was a greater chance that some of them could actually recognize Alex and Linda, and this could lead to them being crowded. The good thing was, that place was so huge, and there were so many animals in there, that there was the actual chance of no one recognizing them, or even noticing their presence, unless they did something to bring out attention to themselves.

Once they got in there, they tried to make their best to look the kind that would not bring up attention. Linda used the same tactic that she used to get into the hospital days earlier: a handkerchief tied to her head and a pair of sunglasses. In Alex case, Nick was able to go into one of the stores and buy a hooded jacket for him.

"You own me 47 bucks." The fox said with a sly smirk as he gave the camouflage jacket to the cougar, who wore it and pulled to hood over his head.

Both these disguises were rudimentary, but they were the best they could come up with in so little time. So, with them, both gazelle and cougar walked in direction to the station. They walked among all of the animals for around five minutes, and they didn't seemed to be attracting anyone's eyes. They both took it as a good sign, as they both walked in direction to the platform.

* * *

"Another meta mammal?" Nick asked, once their boss explained to them what they were doing in there.

"Yeah, his name is "Jeff", and apparently he is a very good friend of both Hunter and Thompson. At least that was what they said." Bogo spoke, as he looked around. "They said that he was with them in the night they both ended into Zootopia, whatever they meant by that, and that he wanted to meet with them in here in the station. It seems that he is in a train that will arrive in…" The cape buffalo checked on his watch. "Five minutes or so."

"Do you think we can trust him?" Judy asked to the chief, who sighed.

"Honestly? I don't know. But these two seem to trust him. Enough to agree to meet him at the station without any of us around."

"Do you think it's safe for them?" Nick asked, "I mean, last time that Hunter went into the meeting of another mammal who was looking for him it didn't quite ended nicely."

"Hunter claims to know this guy." Bogo said, "Both him and Thompson agreed to come here without anyone, and they didn't seemed sacred at all. They really trust him, and they seem to think that he will not do anything to them." Bogo said, still looking around, at the animals who were moving in and out of the station. "And even if he did, those two surely look like they can fend for themselves." He took a ship of coffee, while both bunny and fox shared a look among themselves.

* * *

After walking around the place, Alex and Linda both decided to sat into a bench into the station, into the place where the train that Jeff said he was in was coming.

"Remember, we are waiting for a train that is coming from Podunk… wherever it is." Linda said, as both she and Alex did their best to try to look invisible, and they were both being surprisingly efficient in it. It seemed that a gazelle walking around with a tissue on her head and sunglasses was not that strange, and neither was a big feline wearing a hood.

"No one even bats an eye at us." Alex said as he sat by Linda's side, and they both looked at the crowd around them as they waited for their friend's train to arrive. "I'm pretty sure that we look at least suspicious."

"Maybe this is a bit like New York." Linda said, "Maybe they have seem a little of everything, and they don't raise their eyebrows too much."

"Up until a few days ago, when a cougar with super powers appeared." He said, and he pulled his hood more over his own face, wishing that the thing could actually make him invisible. He really felt uncomfortable around so many people who could easily identify him.

"Just relax, as soon as we meet Jeff we get out of here." Linda said, as they continued to wait, and as they did, many animals were lignin up with the train, all of them waiting for it to arrive. Soon, came the voice, " _Arriving now, train 44072, coming from Podunk, with its next stop in Tundratown Station._ "

Both Alex and Linda perked up in their seats, as they knew that it was the train of their friend, Jeff.

They both looked as the train stopped, and the many doors opened, and many animals walked out of the train, at the same time that others walked in. The animals that walked out all got going by their own business. Some of them stayed and walked around, seeming either lost or marveled at the place, most likely tourists. Some of them were actually having meeting with other people who had been waiting for them in the station, and one of them was Jeff, who was going to meet with both Alex and Linda.

"How do we know which one is him?" Linda asked, as she scanned the crowd. "Just search for someone who looks familiar. It worked for us." Alex spoke, as both of them continued to look at the crowd in search for a face that looked even slightly familiar.

Sure, during the call, Linda didn't had the chance to ask to Jeff in which animal he had turned into, it was probably for the best, since this kind of question would cause Bogo to raise an eyebrow, and they now had to believe that they were going to be able to recognize him only through seeing his face. They were able to recognize each other instantly, so it was to b think that they would be able to do the same with all of their friends, still, it was a wild guess, as they were scanning a big crowd of animals without even knowing what kind of animal they should be looking for in first place.

"Do you think he turned into a deer, or a moose?" Linda asked, as she looked at a few cervines who walked out of the train.

"Maybe a wolf, I always imagined him like one." Alex said.

"Maybe a bull?"

"Yeah, he would love that." Alex chuckled, and they continued to look at the crowd, trying to find recognition into the face of a single animal that stepped out of that train. They looked for two minutes, and then four, and eight, and they still could not be able to recognize Jeff among them.

"Do you think that he will see us and recognize us?" Linda asked.

"I hope so, because I can't recognize him among all of these muzzles."

"Maybe you should look to another direction."

Came a squeakily voice that almost made both Linda and Alex fall of the bench they were sitting, and they looked around, trying to pin-point where that voice had come from. They looked left, right, back, and didn't saw anyone.

"Down here!" The voice said, they both finally looked down, and they saw a very small mammal looking up at them. Really small, a rodent, actually.

"Oh! Sorry, sir." Linda said, "We didn't saw you." Linda never had problems with rodents, actually, she had always found them cute, and since in that world there were rodents too, she felt like she would not have problems with them. Still, ever since the incident with Judy, she refrained herself from calling any animal smaller than herself of "cute" out of fear of sounding… speciest?

"Look, buddy, we can't talk right now, we are waiting for a fried of us here and he might step on you when he comes." Alex said, s He continued to look up, and so did Linda.

"Seriously?" The rodent said, sounding annoyed at the two bigger animals, Alex looked down at him.

"What?"

"Alexander!" The rodent said, and the way he talked sparked something into Alex's mind, who then took a very good look into the rodent in front of him.

He had light-brown colored fur, with a cream-colored muzzle, round ears, a pink snout, and round and hazelnut colored eyes, and he was wearing a green colored T-shirt and a set of pants that seemed leather, and they were very fitting for his size. He had a slender body, a long tail, and long whiskers on his face. He shouldn't be much taller than three inches high, less than four, that was for sure.

As Alex looked at him, the way that he was looking back at him, and these eyes… imagining the eyes and expression into a human face, and the voice  _much_  deeper…

No…

It couldn't be…

There was no way…

Alex blinked, as he looked down at the rodent, who looked at him. "Is this the sound of the bulb flicking?" He said rhetorically, taking a small hand to one of his big ears. Alex almost fell from the bench he was sitting when realization hit him full on. And by "almost fell off", I mean that he slide from it into his knees to the ground, and was now resting his hands at the ground to take a very close look at that small mammal.

"Jeff?" Alex asked nearly breathless, catching Linda's attention, who got on her knees next to Alex to look at him, and them her gaze shifted at the mouse. She looked at it for a few seconds, removing her sunglasses, and as realization hit her, she gasped and covered her mouth with a hooved hand.

The small rodent smiled up at the two bigger animals, and he said, "Yeah, I expected you two to react like that… so, cougar and gazelle, huh? Not bad." Jeff said at the two mammals, who continued to look down at him with wide eyes, as if he was a being of another planet. Jeff looked at them, who were now looking at him like that for almost half a minute now, and he cleared his throat, saying, "Guys, if you keep looking at me like that some of the animals around might wonder why two animals like yourselves are paying so much attention to a small domestic mouse like me."

The two blinked, then Linda looked around, and she saw that, indeed, some of the animals in there were starting to stare at them.

"Oh… right! W-we must be going." Linda said, and she was getting up, and Jeff said:

"I totally agree, by the way, would any of you, big guys, help me with this?" He said, gesturing to the baggage that he had been carrying, which was of a size corresponding to his… new stature.

"Oh… r-right." Alex said, reaching out for the small baggage, but Jeff stopped him.

"Since we are at it, why don't you give me a ride?"

"Huh?"

"In your hand." Jeff explained, "I mean, I'm a little small and I might have trouble keeping up with you, and I almost got stepped on a lot in the past few days. I don't want to take risks in here."

Alex looked at him, and he slowly nodded, as he put his hand on the ground, with the paw turned up, so Jeff could climb on it with his baggage and everything. Once he was in, Alex raised his hand, being careful not to shake it very much, at Jeff's request, and they started to walk.

There was a silence as they walked, and all the while, Jeff was standing into Alex paw, feeling the padding, "Quite comfortable." He said with a smirk, "I'd recommend to a friend." Alex didn't answered, as he simply continued to walk, casting the occasional glance into Jeff from time to time. This, of course, didn't went unnoticed by the small rodent, who said, "Still trying to take a grip at this?"

Alex looked at him, and Linda too, who was walking by Alex's side. "Y-yeah, sorry, I guess we got caught off guard." He said, trying to be discrete into the way that he talked, since they were still into a public place, even though the animals around them seemed to be too busy minding their own affairs to actually pay very much attention to them.

"Well, I guess we can talk calmly about it later, but right now, I believe we have other matter to attend to." Jeff said, and he added, "So, you guys came here with someone else, didn't you?"

* * *

Bogo, Nick and Judy all stood outside the station, waiting for the return of the two meta mammals with their friend. They were taking a while, and this was making them worried.

"Shouldn't they be back by now?" Nick asked, checking on his watch, and Bogo sighed.

"Yeah, maybe they should." He said, as he looked at the place. There were no screaming or running animals coming from inside, so it was to be supposed that they didn't engaged into a fight with the one they were meeting. Still, the fact that they were taking so long to come back from a simple meeting with a friend was making Bogo start to grow worried that something might have happened. Of course, the buffalo had not yet discharged the possibility that the two could have used this chance to elope from them and go somewhere else, probably into a train to out of the city.

"Hey, I see them!" Judy said, and the others went into attention at this, as they saw the two animals walking back to them. They were both alone, and they seemed to be a bit uneasy as they approached.

Bogo raised an eyebrow at them, as he looked around, trying to spot someone who could be that "Jeff" that they both talked so much about, but he saw no one.

"Didn't you meet up with this friend of yours?" Nick asked, the two animals shared a look, and Linda said:

"Yeah, we did."

"Where is he?"

As an answer, Alex stretched his arm, showing them his open palm, and the small brown rodent that was in it. "Hi." The small rodent said, as the other animals looked at him. Judy was in an advantageous position into the car, so she could have him directly on her line of sight, and she looked at him curiously, very much the same way that she looked at Mr. Big when first meeting him. Bogo, on the other hand, crouched a little to look at the rodent with a raised eyebrow.

The smaller mammal just looked up at him and smiled, offering a tiny paw at the bigger mammal, and saying: "Jeffrey Small, at your service."

Bogo looked down at him, and he slowly reached out to shake his tiny hand with only one of his much bigger hooved fingers. "Mason Bogo. Chief of the ZPD of Precinct 1." The buffalo said, and the smaller mammal only nodded at him.

"Well, it is nice to meet you." He said, and he looked at the other two animals who were with him, and he said, "Don't tell me. Officers Judith Laverne Hopps, and Nicholas Piberius Wilde, respectively the first bunny and fox to ever join the police in the Zootopian police force."

"Yeah, we have quite a fame." Nick said with a smirk, and Jeff, looking at him, added.

"You have a record of minor infractions in a good part of your teenage years, including scamming and instinct exploitation." He said, and Nick looked at him, "You have a scar in the back of your left leg due to an accident when you were fifteen, and even though you were born and grew up in Zootopia, both your parents came from Vulpesville." He then turned to Judy, and said, "Judith Laverne Hopps, you came from BunnyBurrow, where you were born and grew up. You formed into the ZPD Police Academy with the best grades of your class, but you were only able to enroll thanks to the Mammal Inclusion Initiative. You have two minor infractions in your teenage years, one for order disturbance and the other for public indecency."

"Wait, what?" Nick said, looking back at Judy, who was now blushing.

"I-I got drunk in a party. Long story."

"You two got famous for the exposure of the Night Howler Conspiracy, and for arresting Dawn Bellwether and a good number of her co-conspirators into one of the greatest mass arrests of the history of this city, and among the arrested there were corrupt cops and some business mammals, curiously, all of them sheep." Jeff said, as he looked in between the two officers.

"Well, it sounds like someone has been making research." Nick said with a smile.

"Too bad that most of her conspirators were not charged, or even discovered at all." Jeff added, causing the animals to look surprised at him. "But again, the guys were influent and they knew how to cover their tracks. I'm surprised that you arrested so many, in the first place."

As he spoke that, Bogo had a raised eyebrow at him, deciding to cut out the talk and go straight to business, and he asked, "Are you a meta mammal too, yes or not?"

Jeff smiled as he looked up at him, and he chuckled, "Meta mammal. What a very interesting concept. Kind of tacky, but indeed appropriated. Well, it guess it is better than 'mutant animal'." He said, and Bogo continued to look down at him, his expression serious and not amused. "But, answering your question, yes, I am a 'meta mammal', as you call it."

"And, what would be your super power, my friend?" Nick asked, "Can you walk over water? Make it rain? Change the color of our fur?"

Jeff chuckled, "Well, I don't really have flashy powers like my two friends in here." He said as he gestured to both Alex and Linda. "My power is a little more subtle. As you probably have already realized by now."

Bogo raised an eyebrow, and the rodent continued. "My specific mutation allows me to have a brain capacity that allows me to process information at a much faster, complex, and more efficient way than most of the ones of my species, or many other species, by the way, are able to. This way, I have greater capacity of memory, creativity, ingenuity, cognition, analysis, and overall mental efficient than many other individuals."

As he finished, the other animals only stared at him, before Alex traduced into simpler terms what Jeff just said: "He is super smart."

The other animals then nodded, and Judy said, "So, you are smart hum?"

"I scored 300 points in the IQ test when I was ten." Jeff said with a smirk. "I know that being smart is not as interesting as being able to move things with your mind or shooting lightnings form your paws, but it is mine, and I like it." He said as he fixed his shirt, and Bogo looked down at him.

"Well, I'm sure that it is." He said, looking down at the smaller mammal. "But, how would it help you with someone like me, for example?"

"Is that a challenge?" Jeff said with a smirk, "Because I'm pretty sure that I could bring you down if I wanted."

Bogo narrowed his eyes, Jeffrey looked back at him, and he added, "By the way, how is your son going?"

Bogo's ears perked when he heard that, and both Nick and Judy shared a look. Not many knew that Bogo was married and that he had one son, the cape buffalo always made his best to keep his personal life separated from his job.

"He is six years old, right?" Jeff said.

The bull looked down at him for a few seconds, before saying, through clenched teeth, "Ferdinand is seven." He really did not like the way that the rodent was now bringing his son into the talk all of sudden.

"Oh, then he is small for his age, he sprawled soy milk in you this morning." Jeff said, and Bogo looked surprised at him. "Two drops right beneath your badge." He said, and Bogo looked, trying to see the said stains, they were small and they were very thin, and it was only possible to look if you looked hard enough. "Soy milk has characteristic smell that makes it easy to differ it from the milk made of nut, you were having breakfast with him on one edge of the table, you on the other, and your wife at the center, right?"

"Who are you? Sherlock Hound?" Bogo said, and there was a silence, as Jeff simply looked up to him with a smile, and he said, "Yeah, you can say I'm like Sherlock Hound. Only smaller. Talking about breakfast, I didn't had mine this morning; can we go somewhere grab some grub? I'm starved!"

Bogo snorted as he looked at that small mammal, and he looked up at the two mammals, Linda said. "Yeah, I'm kind of hungry too."

"Me too." Nick admitted, and Bogo shot him a glare, before sighing, and saying:

"Okay, let's get back to the hospital, and then you can eat."

"Actually." Jeff said, "I believe that my friends in here might be a little tired of hospital food. If you could take us to a place with good food around here we can just serve ourselves and we can go back to the hospital right away."

Bogo looked down at him, and looked back at the two mammals, who looked as if they were quite afraid to meddle in. The buffalo looked back at the mouse, who had a confident smile on his face, as if he was sure that he was going to win this talk, no mattered what Bogo said. The buffalo groaned as he rubbed the bridge of his muzzle, and said: "Fine, we'll search for a place, but we go straight back to the hospital after." He then said, pointing a finger to the mouse's chest. "And you  _better_  not try anything!"

"Seems like a fair deal to me." Jeff said, and he added, "If possible, could it be in a place that serves sunflower seeds? I have been dying for some of them!"

* * *

Nearly fifteen minutes later, they were into a place named "Graze Times", which seemed to be a place that was more centered into serving food to prey animals, since they had a wide variety of vegetarian food, but they also had some options for carnivores, as it was demonstrate by their "Special Bugloaf".

It ended up being the place that they had chosen to eat, and Nick even mentioned how their bugloaf was great. Alex already had decided to try that, and once inside, they sat on tables. The officers had one near the door, while Jeff had convinced his friends to take one far from them, into a deeper part of the place. He said that it was to avoid peeping eyes on Linda and Alex, and Bogo was forced to agree, but he made it clear that they were going to keep an eye on them.

As soon as they were away, Alex ordered his bugloaf, Linda ordered some of the especial salad, and Jeff ordered toasted sunflower seeds. As they ate, Alex noticed on how happily Jeff devoured the few seeds that were brought to him.

"Good to see that changing into a rat didn't changed your love for these things." Alex said.

"First of all, I am a  _mus musculus_ , a common domestic  _mouse_." Jeff said, and he added, "And second, nothing will ever change my love for these delicious! Look, now they are so big that only one of them is a whole meal to me! This is nearly a dream coming true!"

"A dream coming true? Really?" Alex asked.

"I said 'nearly'." Jeff added, and he also said, "Still, I have to say that the fact of being reduced to a few inches high is somewhat unsettling."

"Yeah, you used to be taller than me." Alex said, "Seeing you turned into a mouse came as a startle."

"Oh, you wanna hear about a startle?" Jeff said, "When I woke up the first thing I saw was a huge bunny looking down at me. Big eyes and ears and a mouth that was big enough to bite me if he thought I was a carrot… Seriously, I had nightmares like that."

"Yeah, I only imagine that." Alex said, unable to hide his smile, and Linda chuckled as she continued to eat. "But I still don't understand how you can find  _seeds_  to be delicious."

"Personal taste, I guess. And I see that you developed a new taste for bugs, by the way." Jeff said, looking at the bugloaf that Alex was eating, that was, basically, a big paste-like cake that was mixed with grasshoppers all over it.

"They taste really good." Alex said, taking another bite from his plate. "Also, I didn't really had a problem chomping on bugs, I guess that has something to do with me turning into a predator." Alex said, and a silence befell the three friends, as Alex looked around, to be sure that no one was eavesdropping, and he approached the table, as he started to say in a low voice. "Okay, I guess we all are just waiting for the moment when we will talk about the fact that we are no longer among humans and neither look like one, right?"

"I was about to get to that." Jeff said.

"What happened to us?" Linda asked, the then rodent looked up to her, and he said:

"Well, ever since I woke up eight days ago, I have been thinking a lot about that. More than I usually think about anything else." As he spoke that, he looked up at his two friends. "Well, at first I thought that could be delirious, or trapped into a nightmare, or that it could be one of Martin's jokes." He spoke, and he looked like he was getting ready to explain. "However, I took only two hours to realize that this new world was far too complex and realistic to be anything like a dream or an illusion, or anything around these lines. So, as soon as I realized that this world was real, I did the only thing I could think of: I tried to learn as much about it as I could."

The two bigger mammals nodded, as they both knew that this was the kind of thing that Jeff would most likely do in a situation like that. The mouse continued, "I spent the last seven or eight days as a host into the house of another family of mice, who were kind enough to allow me to use their television and computer. I spent days and nights on zapping through channels and websites, trying to get just as much information about this world as it was possible for me. I still haven't gotten all of it, and there is some things that I haven't understood completely yet. Still, I saw enough to understand that this Earth seems almost like a reflection of our own world, only that in here, humans never happened, and instead it seems that every other animal evolved to rule the world at the same time. What, I have to say, goes against many of my most basic understandings of genetics and evolution."

The two animals looked at him as he explained that. "Yeah, we kind of noticed that already." Linda said to him, "But, this does not quite explains why we have turned into animals by coming here… or  _how_  we ended up here, in the first place."

"Yeah, I know." Jeff said, as he looked up at them, and he said, "Part of the time I spent without contacting anyone, I spent trying to figure out what kind of place is that. The only answer I could come with was that we were sent into another dimension."

"Well, that we figured out by ourselves too." Alex said, "But, about we being animals…"

"For years, scientists theorized the existence of alternate dimensions, in which the laws of nature, physics, and even reality, would not necessarily have to be the same as in ours." Jeff said, "So, basically I'm saying, that each dimension has its own set of rules." He spoke, and he continued, "So, my theory, in that night, when that vortex swallowed us and the building, it was some kind of dimensional rift that somehow connected our own reality with an alternative reality, whose laws diverged from ours' in a way that our mere presence in here would break its laws."

"So, as we crossed the dimensional tissue that separated our human dimension of this animal one, in order to be able to fit into this new world, we were forced to change to match its rules." Jeff continued. "Since humans didn't existed in here, then we could not be humans, and as a result, we had to change into something else, something that would fit the rules of this new world. So, basically, we turned into some of the sentient creatures that are common in this world, these "evolved animals" so to speak, as a result of passing to it, and having to go by the same rules the govern this dimension, in order not to mess with its balance and organization."

There was a long silence following these words, and after a while, Linda said: "This is… kind of far-fetched, don't you think?"

"It almost sound like something that you would come up in a B-type crossover fanfiction…" Alex said, looking at Jeff. "I mean, we all changing in both shape and even gaining animal instincts by coming to here? And it weren't just  _we_  who changed. My money became the currency of this world, and Linda's phone had a bitten apple in the back before the vortex, and now it has a bitten  _carrot_! And my photo…" Alex said, reaching for the photo on his pocket, and he pulled it out, showing it to Jeff. "My mother and brother both turned into cougars! I would understand that it happened with my biologic body, but changing a photograph? And I still recognize them without any problems, just like I recognized Linda, and like I can recognize you now! As if you all had always had these faces! What, the vortex has somehow changed my mind too? Jeff, I know that you are way smarter than me, and that I didn't even finished high school, but even I think that this theory of yours has a lot of holes."

Alex and Linda both looked at Jeff, who they expected to come up with a much more elaborated explanation, that they were both probably going to fail at understanding, to try to defend his point. However, he instead only looked at both of them, before sighing, and hanging his head down, as if in defeat, as he said: "I know… but for now, it is the best one that I could think of that didn't involve fairies and gremlins."

Alex and Linda shared a look among themselves, as they both knew that Jeff was probably having a hard time coming to terms with all of that. After all, he was a rational guy, and this kind of place… well, it made you doubt a lot of things once you arrived in there…

"So… the vortex somehow turned us into animals because this way we would be according to the world we came into?"

"Yeah, that is the theory." Jeff said, looking up at them again.

"But… if that is like this, why haven't we all turned into the same animal? I mean, I turned into a cougar, Linda into a gazelle, you into a mouse… how did the vortex decided in which animal to turn us?"

"I'm not sure yet." Jeff admitted, "Maybe it was random, or maybe it had to do with something in our own subconscious minds. I'm really not sure of the process yet."

"Well… all I know is that now you kind of fit your name… Mr. Small." Lind said, and the ones in the table started to laugh at the joke, including Jeff.

"Oh, yeah, and you look really great as a  _Thomson_  gazelle Ms.  _Thompson_." Jeff added, and he turned to Alex, "And  _you_ , Mr. predator, now truly live up to the surname  _Hunter_." As he spoke that, they continued to laugh a little, but after a few moments, their laughing slowly died down, until they were left into another silence, and their faces now far from being smiling, as they all started to  _really_ think about it…

There were moments of silence, as neither of them could think of something else to say, and finally, Alex broke the silence. "So… what caused that vortex?"

"I don't know that either." Jeff said, quite glad that the subject had changed. "It was possible that it was some event regarding dimensional interaction, or maybe even some quantum mechanics. The most likely, however, was that it was caused by… someone like us."

"Maybe one of the guys Stoats hired?"

"That would be the most likely, I guess."

"So, that guy decided to just send us all into this alternate dimension full of talking animals?" Alex asked, trying to keep his voice down to avoid others hearing, even though they were somewhat far from other tables, and the ones who were in them seemed more worried about eating their own food and talking to each other than try to eavesdrop their conversation.

"I'm not sure if it was intended, but I guess that it would be safe to assume that, if however did this took us here…"

"Maybe could also take us back." Linda said, following his logic.

"But, how do we know who is this guy? Or where to find him? Or if he is in this world? Or if he is even alive?"

"I… don't really know that." Jeff admitted in defeat. "I'm just a genius, not a medium!" He said in his own defense, while the two animals let out sighs. There was another silence, before Alex asked:

"So… did you had contact with anyone else? Martin, or Tania?"

"No, I just heard about you two, and it wasn't hard, you have been on all the news lately. Oh, and I saw that press conference that you made, how did they convinced you to do that?"

"Well, they said that the animals were scared and that some of them were getting really nervous about this, and that if I gave them some answers they would calm down." Alex said, "So, I went to the tv and tried to be honest with them."

"Yeah, I saw it." Jeff said, "That thing you did, hesitating like that, you showed emotion, and that surely will make a lot of them to feel sympathy with you."

"Yeah, I just glad that you sent me that message before the event."

"Message?"

"Yeah, the one you sent into my phone using an unknown number." Linda said, gesturing at her phone, but Jeff looked confused.

"I didn't sent you any message." He said.

"What? But, I received it here." She said, and she looked into her phone, but after a few seconds, she said "…is not here anymore."

Alex and Jeff both looked at her, and she said. "The message is not here anymore… it is gone…"

As they spoke, they didn't realized that another animal had just passed by the window, and that this animal had gotten a very good look at Alex's face, and that had immediately recognized him…

* * *

"The best bugloaf in Savanna Central! Impressive, considering that they serve mostly herbivores." Nick said as he sighed, reclining back on his seat as he patted hid stomach. Meanwhile, Judy had just finished her carrot special, and she looked at him with a smile as he relaxed. "Now, for the dessert… Uh! They have blueberry pie!" Nick said, almost sounding like a child as he saw the special pie of the day, and Judy couldn't help but chuckle, as sometimes her partner could behave just like a kit.

Bogo, on the other hand, was looking at the other end of the restaurant, at the animals who were sitting into the far end. They seemed to be whispering among themselves, and talking about something that they didn't wanted anyone else to hear.

Bogo knew that it was, most likely, a subject that they were not ready to share with him, not yet, at least. Still, the fact that they have chosen a table so far and were now talking in whispers; it was enough to get the buffalo at least curious. He now wished that he was a small fly, just so he could buzz to there and hear whatever was it that they were talking.

"How was the salad, Chief?" Nick asked to the buffalo, but the bull continued to look away, in direction to the table of Alex and his friends. Nick raised an eyebrow at him, and looked in direction to the table. "What, are you afraid they will vanish if you blink?"

Bogo snorted as he cast a glare to the fox, and Nick only chuckled at this. "Oh, com one, chief, didn't they already showed us that they are nice guys?" He asked as he looked back at the buffalo, and he said, "I mean; if they wanted to escape they could have done that already a hundred times, right?"

"Nick is right in here." Judy said, making the buffalo look at her. "I'm sorry, sir, but I guess that Alex and Linda both showed that they are willing to cooperate, and that they don't intend to do harm. They showed in a lot of occasions that we can trust them, and honestly, I guess I do trust them both."

Bogo looked at Hopps, and he knew that she was right. Those two could have escaped rather easily if they wanted, but they didn't. Besides, if they actually tried to escape, there was probably little that any of them could do to stop them. The thing was; Bogo knew that they were not sharing just everything. He knew that they were keeping secrets, and this made him suspicious. Of course, it wasn't more suspicious than he had always been towards Savage…

Thinking about it, he didn't had any news from Savage in the following days since Hunter was taken to the hospital. The mammal said that he would send someone in the city to keep an eye on things, but neither Savage, nor this someone he had sent, had made any attempt to contact Bogo ever since. This was enough to raise Bogo's curiosity; since Savage didn't bothered to give him any short of information other than "the situation is more complicated than I thought".

Savage keeping secrets and not talking to Bogo, and sending his personnel into the city to watch on the things. Now this new guy, who claimed to be a friend of Hunter and Thompson, just arrived in the city and now they were all with little secrets. That was the kind of thing that made Bogo uncomfortable, and of course, it made him more suspicious than he already was.

Could it be a coincidence that Jeffrey Small suddenly appeared in the city around one week after his strange last talk with Savage? Maybe. Or maybe not. He knew that Razorback didn't believed in coincidences himself, and sometimes Bogo was forced to agree…

Bogo was so focused, that he barely heard the sound of the small bell by the door as someone entered. At least until a big lion get on his line of sight. Bogo perked in his seat as the big lion blocked his view from the table that the meta mammals were in. However, what really made him stand, was the fact that this lion seemed to be heading straight to that same table…

* * *

"I'm saying that I didn't sent you any message! I didn't even knew that you were going for that press conference! I told you, I'm not a medium!" Jeff said as the other animals looked at him.

"Wait, then who sent that message?"

"Well, I don't know, I could analyze you phone if you let me, and maybe I could figure out… Oh boy. Guys, don't look now, but there is an angry looking atlas lion coming right to us." Jeff said, as he tried his best not to look, and both Alex and Linda looked at him, before a strong voice called their attention.

"Leaving your den, freak?"

Alex and Linda both perked their heads as they could see the one who just spoke to them, and it was a  _big_  lion. He should be around nine, maybe ten feet tall, and he looked to be muscled, his fur was of a golden yellow, and had a big dark mane and a strong jaw, along with golden-colored eyes. He wore a brown colored shirt with long-legged cream pants. He looked down at them… no, he was look at  _Alex_ , with an expression that was somewhat a mix of disgust and rage.

Alex felt a shiver as he saw the way that lion was looking straight at him, and he simply looked back. "Excuse me?" He said, as he already started to recognize the kind of look that the lion was giving him, once he already faced it a lot before he ended up in Zootopia. Alex didn't even bothered to play fool with him, for he already knew that the lion recognized him, and that the lion was not going to let it go. He could see it in his eyes.

"So what? You got tired of hiding behind the police and decided to come for a stroll in the city?" The lion asked, and the disgust was clear on his voice, as if he found Alex to be a cockroach or something similar.

"Look, I don't know you, and I don't know what you have against me." Alex said, as he was slowly getting up, "But if my presence here annoys you, then I guess I can just leave."

"Running back with your tail between your legs?" The lion said, his tone growing louder and catching the attention of a few of the patrons in the restaurant. "Can't you at least stay and face me a normal guy like a man?"

"Look, I don't want trouble."

"Well, too late for that, freak!" The lion said, pushing Alex and almost making him fall to the ground. Alex recovered, but as he got back, the hood fallen from his head, letting the others see his face, and soon enough, they all started to recognize the cougar.

"Hey, ain't that the lightning cougar?"

"Yes it is him!"

"He was on the news earlier!"

"What is he doing here?"

"Sweet cheese and crackers!" Judy said, as she, along with her partner and chief, where seeing that scene unfold.

"Is just me, or that lion looks familiar?" Nick said, and indeed it wasn't just him. Bogo too could get a look into the face of the lion, and he could quickly recognize him.

Meanwhile, Alex stared daggers at the lion, who was looking at him with very much the same amount of anger. "Oh, you got angry, freak? What will you do? Will you fry me?" He tainted, and as he did, he unsheathed his claws. "Come on! Try to see what happens with you!"

"Hey, stop!" A booming voice said, and the eyes turned to look at Bogo, who approached with Nick and Judy right on his heels. "Joseph Grooms!" The buffalo said, looking straight at the lion, "You have already been arrested three times in the past five days, now you are about to be arrested for the fourth time if you don't step back now."

The lion glared daggers at the bull, and he turned back to Alex. "So, still hiding behind the cops, huh? You are really as coward as I thought you to be!"

"Do I even know you?" Alex said to him, getting increasingly angry, "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm the mammal who is not falling for this theater of yours!" The lion nearly roared, prompting many of the animals around to take a step back out of fear. "You go around, acting as if you were a poor guy with super powers who just want to be a friendly neighbor, and acting as if you were a poor victim! That little show you made in the press conference? Well, you are a good actor, I'll give you that! You know that you almost got me fooled?"

"But I'm not falling for this! I know exactly what you are! You are a freak! A monster! These things you can do just aren't natural!"

Alex was felt a strong feeling rising in his chest and his stomach as he looked at the lion, feeling the increasing need to at least throw a few words back at him. However, before he could say anything, the lion continued with his tirade.

"We just can't trust a thing like you! Sure, everyone thinks that you are a cool guy now, maybe even a hero, but sooner or later you will show your true colors! A thing that does the things you do doesn't care about the feelings of other mammals, and you will soon start to show everyone how dangerous you truly are! You should at least be locked away where you would no longer be able to hurt anyone!"

Alex got more and more nervous as the lion spoke, as memories of the human world filled his mind. The whole speeches, the persecutions, the protests, the Renautas, all of that came back to him as he could see the despise that this lion had on his eyes, simply because Alex was what he was. Alex felt the anger and frustration building up inside of him, ready to explode.

"Why are you being so mean?" A small voice asked, and the eyes all few into a small lioness. She should be around six, or five years old. She was holding onto a doll with her hand, while the other held the hand of an adult lioness, who was, most likely, her mother, while she looked up at the big lion with her green eyes. "What the big cougar did to you?"

The lion looked at her, a bit surprised, but he recovered quickly, and he said, "Nothing… yet, but he  _will_  do!" He said, almost as if it was an accusation and an affirmation in one. "With the things he can do, it is only a matter of time before he decides to do something to someone."

"Excuse me!" Said a voice, and everyone turned around to look at Judy Hopps, who stepped up, and looked straight at the lion.

"Was he doing anything wrong just now?" She demanded of the lion, who was taken back by her tone. "Well, I hadn't done anything wrong in the past days, not eight days ago, when he saved several innocent civilians from danger!"

"You stay out of this, bunny!" The lion countered, but Judy was not intimidated by him.

"In the past days, Alex Hunter has done absolutely nothing to make us think that he was dangerous or that he had bad intentions regarding anyone! In fact, much of his actions only gave us reasons to think positively at him!" She spoke, and as she did, Alex looked at her, who was now standing for him. "So, since he didn't did anything wrong, nor committed any crime, using his powers or not, there is no reason why he should be persecuted by someone who demonstrates an erratic behavior and aggressive dispositions, and that just decided to come up and start aggrading him without any seeming reason. If anything, you are the one who is dangerous and who should be watched!"

The lion growled, as he unsheathed his claws, and he seemed almost ready to pounce at Judy.

"Try!" Nick said, pointing a tranquilizer gun at him. The lion looked at him, and he turned his gaze back at Alex, who looked at the bunny. Judy looked back at him, and she was able to nod. Alex saw this, and returned the nod, and he turned to the lion.

"I really don't know you, and so, I guess I don't have anything against you." He said to the lion, "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to go back to the hospital, because I have more important things to do than to serve as a target for the anger of a lion."

Alex spoke, and he turned to leave, but as he did, the lion turned to him. "YOU FREAK!" He said, and he jumped at Alex. It was so sudden and fast, that almost no one was able to react fast enough. However, before the lion could make contact with Alex, he was forced backwards, and his back slammed into the wall.

The crowd all gasped as they saw it, and the lion was a bit dazzled. He was able to get his senses clear in time to see a gazelle stepping on his way, standing between him and the cougar. She had a fierce look in her eyes, and she was looking at the lion with a look of the purest disgust in her face.

"Why you…" The lion said, ready to pounce at her, but Linda was faster than him. She simply outstretched her hand, and the lion was forced into the wall. With his back pressed into it and his arms forced to the sides, he was raised from the ground, held into the wall by an unseen force as Linda had her hand stretched in his direction.

The crowd gasped as they watched that scene, but it only lasted for a moment, before Linda lowered her hand and the lion came collapsing into the ground, gasping for breath.

He stayed in there for a few minutes, before someone came on to him, but it wasn't to help him stand, but to force his arms behind his back, and cuff them. "Okay, you need a night into a cell to calm yourself down." Bogo said, as he cuffed the lion and soon was making him stand.

As he was up, the lion glared daggers at the two mammals. "See? This is what I'm talking about! They are dangerous! We can't 'rust them! We can't let them on the loose to see as they please! This is a great mistake!"

The lion continued with his tirade, while Bogo continued to drag him away, already requesting back up on his radio to help take that lion into custody, and to take Thompson and Hunter back into the hospital. Silently, he was already regretting having let Small convince him to come to there.

As the lion was taken away, many in there continued to look at Alex and Linda.

"Man, it is that gazelle!"

"It is truly them! The meta mammals!"

"What are they doing here?"

The crowd continued to look at them, while Judy approached both. "Are you two okay?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Who was that guy?"

"Remember that guy who the chief said that had been around trying to cause riots? Well, you just met him." Nick said, "Joseph Groom."

Alex looked at him surprised, and he looked back at the lion, who seemed like he was still struggling while Bogo tried to keep him subdued. It was hard even for a bigger, heavier, and much strong animal like himself. The lion even tried to bite on him on one or another occasion.

"Man, that cat needs a muzzle." Alex said, and he didn't noticed the way that Nick tensed, but the fox said:

"Yeah, maybe he does."

Judy looked at her partner, as she knew that the muzzle thing made him very uncomfortable. She had already seem Nick look very uneasy around them, even when he had to put them into dangerous suspects.

"Well, that escalated quickly." Jeff said, making the others remember that he was still there. "Now, since we all seem to have failed miserably into avoid getting attention, what about we get out of here before we receive too much of it?"

As he said that, Alex took a good look around, to see that all the mammals were looking at him and Linda, some of them even taking pictures or filming them. Some talked among themselves as they pointed at them and some of them were talking in their carrot phones. One thing Alex was sure, pretty soon that place was going to be filled with many more animals, all of the anxious to take a good look at the two animals and maybe take a few picture themselves.

"Yeah, we better get going." Alex said, and Linda offered both of her hands cupped to Jeff, and he soon hopped in. They were just leaving, when a small voice called:

"Mister…"

Alex turned to the source of the voice, to see the small lioness looking up at him, holding her mother's hand as she watched him with big, curious eyes.

"What that lion said, it is not true, is it?" She asked, still looking up at Alex. "You are not bad, are you? Because you don't look bad."

Alex looked at that innocent little face, and he felt a warm within his chest. He didn't knew what to say, but he knew that he wanted to tell her the truth. "No, it is not true." Alex said to her. "I'm not the bad guy."

This seemed to be enough for the lioness, by the way that she looked up at him, and for some reason it was also enough for Alex. He turned his head away as he and the others walked outside, still with the many eyes of every animal of the place on them.

As they walked, Alex once more felt moved by someone standing for him like that, and it made him believe that maybe things could be different in this world, even with a guy like that "Joseph Groom" around.

As they walked outside, with Alex almost forgetting about everyone around him, as he repeated what he said to the young lioness to himself.

"I'm not the bad guy."

* * *

As they walked outside, none of them noticed that one present mammal didn't seemed all too impressed with the scene that just had transpired. Instead, this mammal seemed to be calmly reading a newspaper and shipping on coffee while the whole thing took place, and as the animals got out, he pulled out a phone, dialed a number, and took it to his ear.

"Hey, its me… Yeah… Yes… They meet with someone else… A friend of their… Yeah… There was a small situation in here, but it solved quickly… Yes… Okay, I will."

As soon as he finished, he closed his phone, put it in his jacket, and got up, leaving behind a one hundred zollar bill as he walked out of his table…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	13. Problem in Tundratown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the meeting with Jeff, the mouse is taken back to the hospital and the rodent starts to show others his skills. Meanwhile, a train arrives in Tundratown, and a new individual comes into Zootopia...

It was not hard to get away from the place, once all of the animals in there seemed to be more interested only into watching Alex and company go on their way. Of course, they had to wait for another police car to come to take away that crazy lion, Grooms.

All the time he kept spitting insults at Alex, and telling everybody just how he is "dangerous and not trustworthy", and all of that stuff. Alex was glad when they closed the door and he could no longer hear his voice, and even more when the door of their own cruiser got closed, and they started to drive back to the hospital.

"Well, that could have went better." Said Jeff, as he was sitting in Linda's cupped hands as the gazelle was gently carrying him and his small baggage. The mouse looked up at Alex, who looked back at him, sighing.

"You think?" Alex asked, as he looked at the window, seeing the city pass by them in a blur as they went as fast as the speed limits would allow in direction to the hospital.

"What now?" Linda asked, and Bogo was the one who answered:

"Now we go back to the hospital, like we should have done from the beginning." The cape buffalo continued to look straight forward, as he continued to drive as fast and directly as he dared, the smaller cruiser of Hopps and Wilde following him close from behind.

"Well, I guess that you will have to explain to them about Jeff once we get there." Linda said, and Jeff looked up at her, and he nodded.

"I look forward to knowing the other scientists in there." He said simply, and Bogo simply snorted as he continued to drive, as he tried to imagine just how that meeting was going to go.

* * *

"…Jeffrey Small, at your service!" Jeff said to the bigger mammals who were around him. The mouse was standing into the nearby table, while the bigger animals around him looked down at him, some of them with interest, others with some surprise, but all of them with the same kind of interest on their minds.

"So, you are a meta mammal too?" One of the ones in there, a cheetah, asked him, "And you special quality is having a much greater intelligence than normal?"

"That's right." Jeff said, and the doctors shared a look among themselves, and the cheetah once more asked.

"I'm sorry, but having a great intellect is really to be considered something out of the ordinary? I mean, it surely is special, but does it constitute a (I'm sorry, there is no better term) a super power?"

The mouse looked up at the much bigger mammal, and he said, "Well, Mr. Tracks, I'm pretty sure that you will soon agree that my mental capabilities go far beyond the ones of most mammals you have known." The cheetah only looked down at him, still clearly not convinced, and the mouse looked at him up and down two times, and he asked, "By the way, how is it being for you to be sharing a room with a sloth bear?"

"What?" The cheetah asked, looking at him surprised.

"Your roommate. Well, I assume he is, since I don't want to jump to any judgements, but I must admit that there is a whole lot of fur from his in your clothes."

The cheetah had widen eyes as he looked down on his own clothes, as if to see the fur that the small mouse had talked about, while this, Jeff turned his attention to the rest of the doctors.

"Since we are at it, I guess you should talk to your wife, maybe you could convince her to stop making you sleep in the couch." He said to a nearby llama, who looked at him surprised, and he turned to an antelope. "You should avoid spending so many nights awake doing your research, your lack of sleep is going to be bad for your classes, you don't want to fall asleep while your students have their tests, right? And you…" He said, turning to a polar bear nurse. "This new diet you are making is not good for you, quit eating only vegetal proteins and go back to eating what you normally eat, otherwise, the dizziness is going to get worse and you are going to start fainting."

Each one of the mammals who he had talked to looked at him as if he had grown two extra heads, and they seemed to be from surprised to just shocked, and unable to form words. Meanwhile, Bogo had an eyebrow raised and Nick and Judy shared a look. Alex and Linda, on the other paw, just rolled their eyes, as they already knew that this was one of the favorite ways that Jeff had of proving his point.

After the moods had calmed a bit, the mouse simply looked up, and he said, "Well, since I already made acquaintances with some of you, I think that you all might have a few questions to me, but before you do any of them, I would like to make a few requests."

* * *

Doctor Moosard was very helpful with Jeff, as much as he had been with Alex and Linda. He was able to provide the things that Jeff had asked for, which consisted into eight televisions with cable and four laptops with internet access, all of them right for his size, which was described as "rodent size".

As soon as they had it ready, Jeff turned they all on, and set each TV into a different channel, while the had the laptops accessing each one a different website. Then, he just sat in there, among all of them, and he had his head turned to the direction they all were, and he seemed to be paying attention to the TVs at the same time that he was scrolling into the computers.

And there he remained for nearly two hours.

"Is he really seeing them all?" Asked one of the doctors, who was still a bit skeptical about the whole thing.

Immediately, Jeff tuned the TVs on mute, and without moving his head, he pointed at each one of them. "Television series 'Paw and Order'. Documentary about the history of the development of the first Predator/Prey community. Culinary show named 'Wild Ovens'. Kids cartoon about teenagers stopping an alien lizard from taking the world and changing the population into mindless servants. Talk show with a lion host interviewing animals about sexual transmissible diseases. Movie about a weasel who is adopted by a tigress and learns not to be afraid of being himself. Sitcom about two tigers who have the same father and whose mothers are twin sisters. Fictional series about a sheep who was cursed and turns into a wolf during the night and back to a sheep during the day." Next, he pointed at the laptops. "Official website of the current dealings in Paw Street. Thesis about cultural development of mammalian community written by Giovanny Panterko. Official ZNN news website. Website full of fan-fictions of famous movies, series and books."

As soon as he said that, he turned the audio of the TVs back on, and went back into watching them, as if he truly haven't lost track of all that he was watching by having stopped to explain.

This seemed to be enough to make most of the ones in there be convinced that he  _was_  watching all of them. Alex and Linda could only chuckle to themselves, and Dc. Moosard could not avoid asking, "He always does that?"

"He says it helps him practice his attention." Alex said, and that was all that he was going to say. After all, knowing Jeff, he was most likely not only exercising his mind, but also trying to completely grasp the new world they were in. After all, he knew pretty well that once Jeff started to learn about a subject, he wanted to know all that there was to know. This new world was no exception, and now, TV and websites were the best way that Jeff could reach for new information in a short amount of time.

* * *

While Small was in there with the rest of people, Bogo went to another part of the hospital, a more secluded one, and he dialed on his phone.

" _Savage talking._ "

Bogo sighed, before saying, "Another meta mammal has met with Hunter and Thompson."

" _Jeffrey Small, mouse._ " The mammal on the other end said, showing that he was already aware of the situation. For some reason, Bogo was not surprised by it in the slightest.

"Who exactly is he?"

" _I don't know_." Savage said, and Bogo wasn't sure if he should be shocked by some information actually escaping Savage, or relieved to know that he truly didn't knew everything.

" _But I intend to find out. Meanwhile you can keep an eye on him and on the others, and call me if the situation changes **.**_ " Savage said, and Bogo knew that he was about to hang up on him again.

"Wait just a minute!" He said, quite loudly, catching the attention of some of the animals around, and he quickly lowered his tune and talked on the phone. "Listen here, I have done a lot of things for you in the past, including in the past days. I called you to talk about this new meta mammal who just arrived, even though you seemed to already know. You seem to have a way of having information that doesn't entirely rely on me."

There was a brief silence in the line, before Savage spoke once more.

" _Remember when I said I would send some of my personnel to the city?_ "

Bogo remembered that, and actually, that was something that he already kind of expected. "They are already here."

" _Yes._ "

"Will any of them come talk to me?"

" _Only if needed._ "

"Will I know that they work for you?"

" _If they are competent? No._ "

There was another moment of silence, and Bogo sighed, "There are times in which I really wonder why I even trust you."

" _Because we both want the same thing._ " Savage said to him, " _To make sure that good mammals will be safe_."

And with that, and no other word, Savage hung up on him.

Bogo looked at the phone as he already knew that Savage was not going to take more calls from him. He had already tried in the past, after all. He already knew that there was going to be no registers of this call, and that it would not be possible to trace it. After all, that was the way that Savage did things.

And Bogo, for some strange reason, still complied with most of the things that he was asked to. Sometimes he really hated it, and he would later on kick himself for letting some mammal to boss him around like that, but he knew that, on the bigger picture, and considering the past events, it was probably better to listen Savage. After all, that guy already proved to him in their first contacts that he had much more experience with it, and seemed to be far better into dealing with the situation.

"But still…" Bogo said to himself, "One of these days I want to be face to face with him to force him to give me some answers." He continued walking, going to resume his own activities, while he knew that, somewhere in the town, people associated to Savage were doing the same…

* * *

_Arriving now! Iceberg Station! Tundratown!_

The voice announced, as the train stopped into the subway station. All colored in shades of blue and illuminated by white lamps in the ceiling and in the walls. A thin layer of ice and frost formed into the walls, but was maintained clean from the floor, so to avoid the events of some poor mammal slipping into the ground and causing an accident.

As the train stopped, and the doors opened, many animals walked outside of the train, some of them shivering as they were received by the cold air of the area. It was hard to believe that this same section of the city was geographically located into an area of naturally warm climate. That was the magic of the special climate walls that were art of Zootopia's construction.

While some animals were received with shivers, others quite welcomed the cold climate, once it felt more at home for them. Zootopia was like the perfect place to move into if you came from a place with an extreme climate, due to the climate walls. So, it was not that rare to see animals of tundra and other cold environments to come to that area and quite welcome the change from the regular hot ambient to that one that was much more receptive for their species.

Animals who lived into cold climates felt hot and uncomfortable into warmer environments, and while they could even force themselves to last for a while with the heat for a few days, living in there in long term was just not an option. However, Zootopia had the climate walls, which made the temperature just right for the creatures of the tundra to live in there as comfortably as they would into other regions of the planet with the right climate. They came from a variety of reasons, like visiting the place as tourists, to visit some familiar who lived into the city, or even to come to live there themselves.

Anyway, the tundra-native mammals walked out of the train and they immediately let out relieved sighs, as if the cold, barely above freezing air, was like a gust of a cool breeze into the hottest day of summer. Among them, a polar bear who nearly moaned as he felt the refreshing cold feeling, which relieved the heat he had been following for days on end and that had nearly driven him crazy.

He even allowed himself to stop and sigh as he let that cool feeling wash over him, and he even opened a little his arms, letting the cold feeling spread to his naked, furry arms. He was wearing only very light clothes, which consisted into an armless white T-shirt, and light blue colored shorts. This made clear to others that he had just came from an ambient outside of Tundratown, where the climate was far too hot for him, even with that little clothing.

He stayed like that for a few moments, until someone bumping into his shoulder snapped him back into reality.

"Sorry." Said the one who bumped into him, who was a reindeer. He just looked back at the horned animal, before he spoke:

"No problem."

The reindeer nodded, and started to walk away, and the polar bear only looked at him, before he sighed, and started to walk too.

He took the stairs, and he walked up, until he came up to be met with a sight that was truly admirable to the ones who just arrived into the city.

The ground was covered into a layer of snow and a thin layer of ice, as all kinds of tundra animals walked across the streets. Polar bears, reindeers, arctic foxes, artic hares, and many other mammals traditionally found into the cold environments. The polar bear only wasted a single moment looking at them, before turning his attention once more into the road, and starting to walk.

He walked, and passed by many places as he did. He passed by some houses, buildings, fast foods, restaurants, some stores. Neither of these places held his attention too long. He passed by a newsstand, which was selling newspapers, some candy, and cigarette packs.

The polar bear looked at them, and he casually passed by the stand as he simply grabbed two packs and started to walk away.

"Hey you! Wait!" Said the owner of the stand, but the polar bear barely gave him any attention, as he simply opened one of the packs and pulled out a white colored cigarette, as white as his own fur. He stopped, and after a few moments, he walked back.

The owner of the stand saw him coming back and he looked at him. "Yes, two packs, this makes 7.54 zoolars." He said, but the polar bear completely ignored him, and instead, he simply picked up a lighter from the stand, and he walked away once more. The owner tried to call him again, but it was to no use.

Walking away, the polar bear simply flicked the lighter, creating a small, but solid flame, which he then approached of the cigarette, which he had put into his mouth already. He let the tip of the cigarette be lighted while he took in puffs of the cigarette, until he was sure that it was lighted, and then he turned the lighter down, but the tip of the cigarette was lighted.

The polar bear held the cigarette firmly into his mouth, and sucked in a deep breath of the smoke, before sighing and releasing the smoke from the cigarette from his nostrils.

God, he needed that! His last one had ended two days ago, he had smoked all of them to be able to cope with all the crazy things that had happened in the past week. A good puff at a quality cigarette was enough to make him relax and to help him have strength to face the problems.

That cigarette was not exactly of the best quality, but still, it was better than no cigarette at all.

The polar bear sighed as he continued to walk, taking a few more puffs at the cigarette as he walked, looking around at the city, and after a while, he met another place in which he felt like he could take something else to help him get distracted.

The sign above it said that it was some short of club, and this was the kind of place in which he could find both drinks and women. Both of them were things that could truly help him to have a relaxing evening.

He walked into the place, as he passed by two polar bear securities, both of them a little bigger than he was, and both of them gave looks at him as he walked inside. Probably they were paying very much attention to the clothes he was wearing, but he barely even minded. He just wanted to go inside and have a good time, if possible.

He walked into the place, and saw that there was already some other animals inside, talking and having drinks. There was a good number of females in there, even though the place seemed to have little people inside. It was probably going to have more people during the night.

Anyway, it seemed to be good enough for him, once he could spot some cute individuals who he could approach. Starting with a very attractive female polar bear who was wearing some suggestive clothes.

He smiled to himself, as he approached the girl, and he said, "Hey there." She looked at him as he sat by her side, a smile on his face as he looked at her. "You seem a bit lonely in here."

"Yeah, you can say I am." She said to him, and she added, "And I'm also looking for other mammals who are lonely."

The way that she spoke it confirmed the suspicious of the polar bear, and he could only smirk a bit wider at this. "So, if I happen to be lonely, would you mind making me a little company?" He asked her, already looking forward at a possible evening of fun.

"It depends." She says to him. "Can you pay for this company?"

_Dammit._

"Well… what about we make some of a test run, and then I can decide if I'll go for a few more times and pay you accordingly?" He said, and the smile vanished from the female's face. "You know, the first one for free?"

She made a scornful sound as she got up and walked away, leaving him behind, sitting and not feeling good for having been turned down for a hooker. He growled, and pulled another cigarette, and lighted it and started to take fumes.

"Hey, buddy." Said the reindeer waiter, who pointed at a plank on the wall, which said that it was forbidden to smoke inside. The polar bear only looked at him, and he approached him slightly. He put the cigarette on his mouth, sucked deeply, and then breathed the smoke right on the reindeer's face.

The reindeer coughed a little at this, and he shot a glare at the polar bear who had just deliberately puffed smoke on him.

"Do I have to call security?" The reindeer said as he waved away the smoke, and the bear only looked back at him, before saying:

"I wouldn't, unless they are heavily armed."

The reindeer looked at him, and he looked around, before waiving at two securities. "Billy! Moe! In here!" As he did, the two polar bears walked in his direction, and once they were close, one of them said:

"Malcom, what is going on?"

"This guy in here is posing quite a problem." The reindeer said, gesturing to the smoking bear sitting on the bar. He simply looked back at them, and said "Hey."

"Sir, it is forbidden to smoke in here."

"Oh, give me a break!" The polar bear said, and continued to smoke as if he had all the right to do so. "I really need this, I'm having a really bad week."

The two security polar bears looked at each other, and they were already sensing that this guy was probably going to be a problem. One of them was actually already reaching out for the dart gun inside his suit, which caught the attention of the polar bear who was sitting.

"You better be reaching to a pack of cigarettes to offer me. Or a card of apologizes." He said, as if these two were the obvious options for the things that they were reaching for.

"Listen here, mister…" The security said, and the polar bear sighed, letting out a cloud of cigar smoke, before saying:

"Pollard."

"Mister Pollard." The security continued. "You re invited to get out of this club right now."

He looked at the two securities, both who were slightly taller than him, and none of which looked happy. He took another puff of his cigarette, as he got up, and stood in front of the security, "What if I don't want to?"

The security looked at him, and he said, "Then we will have to insist for you to leave." He said, and he placed a clawed hand into the arm of the other polar bear, who reacted quickly. He grabbed the wrist of his hand and twisted it, and as the security doubled over, he gave him a punch in the jaw, making him stumble back.

Now there was a number of the other patrons of the club, who were now looking at what was happening in there. The two securities were having a thing with the polar bear who was not exactly willing to follow the rules of the club. The look in the face of the guard he had just punched told that the guy was in for a lot of trouble.

The security only massaged his jaw where he was punched by that other bear, and he looked back at him. "Okay... if that is the way you want." He said, and closed his hand into a fist as he approached the polar bear, who continued to smoke calmly at his cigarette, as the other bear was getting ready to punch him in the face twice as hard as he had been punched.

"You don't want to do that." The bear said to him, but the security barely minded him, and threw his arm back, only to bring it back at full force, his fist connecting with the face of the other polar bear hard.

Everyone expected the polar bear who received the punch to go to the ground, bleeding from his lips and nose, maybe even spitting one or two teeth. That security guard, Moe, was famous for having been a boxer on his early days, and he still was able to patch quite a punch, enough to make the likes of that polar bear to back down and know their place. He still was able to give quite a good punching if you deserved it, and it was quite a painful punch, if you didn't fainted.

However, what happened in the moment Moe's fist connected with Pollard's face, was a series of things that normally you would not expect to happen if you used the common sense, and they all happened in the space of only one second.

In the moment Moe's fist connected, immediately, all of the fur of the face of the other polar bear seemed to meld together in the surface of his skin, and to change color to a rusty shade of yellow, with a certain metallic sheen. Right them, instead of the regular sound you expect to her when a fist connects with a face, there was a sound as if the fist had collided with something much harder than a face was supposed to be, followed by the sickening sound of bones cracking.

The next thing that was happening, was that Moe was on his knees on the ground, crying out in pain as he was holding his hand, two of his fingers were bent into an unnatural shape, as if broken.

All the other mammals around looked surprised at this, and even more as they looked up at the polar bear. Including Moe, who was able to look up at the bear he had tried to punch, and he had very much the same look of surprise and shock as the rest of the ones in that club as they looked at the polar bear.

His head had changed. It still looked like the head of any polar bear, but now, instead of white and furry, it was of that tone of rusted yellow and smooth. His eyes, which previously were black in color, now became dull and empty, the same color as the rest of the head, and they looked down at Moe.

As the polar bear continued to look up at him, Pollard reach down to grab him, and as he did, the same thing that had happened to his head seemed to spread to his arms, making them become smooth and yellow in the same way. By the time he reached his fingers around Moe's neck, his arms were completely transmuted, and Moe wheezed as that strong, cold hand squeezed on his neck, and raised him from the ground.

Moe was slightly bigger that the other polar bear, still, he was able to raise him from the ground with just one hand as if he had barely even half his weight. Moe squirmed as he tried to claw on the arm of the other polar bear, but he was unable to scrap his skin with his claws. The next thing he did was try to grab on his shirt, and that was when the polar bear got feed up and threw him away.

Moe flew fifteen feet in the air and landed heavily on the ground, and as he did, he tore the shirt of the other polar bear, which was now left with a naked chest. This allowed everyone to see that this strange change seemed to have happened not only to his head and arms, but to his whole body, which was now yellow, smooth looking, and now even seemed to shine a little bit under the illumination of the club.

The ones in there looked at the polar bear, as he looked at Moe, who now was on the ground, immobile, when a sound called his attention.

The other polar bear, Billy, had pulled out his dart gun, and had started to shot darts on the bear. However, the darts only hit his body with a metallic sound and fell to the ground, broken. The bear noticed it, and simply looked at the darts and back at Billy, who was immobile as he looked at him.

The bear walked on his direction and before Billy could react, he grabbed the dart gun, snatching it from his hands, and crushing it to bits with his hand. Billy let out a surprised sound as he stumbled backwards. He washed in astonished as his dart gun was destroyed, and he quickly scrambled back, until his hand came in contact with one of the chairs of the bar.

Billy wasted no time thinking as he just grabbed the chair with both hands and swung it with all of his force.

The other bear did nothing to stop him or to try to dodge, he only stood in there and took the blow. Said blown had no effect on him, but the chair was completely ruined by the force. The chair was made of metal, and it crumpled as it hit the head of the polar bear, becoming useless.

Billy looked at the chair, shocked, and then back at the other polar bear, how looked back at him with a scowling face, before backslapping him. Said backslap had a metaling sound, and it was so hard that it sent Billy straight to the ground, unconscious, and with blood and a few teeth coming out of his mouth.

The polar bear looked down at the unconscious ones, and he looked at the other patrons, who were all staring at him. "Someone else wants to say something?" He said, with his voice much different from before, stronger, and much more metallic. Everybody retreated a step as they stared at him, and the bear noticed that a few of them were actually recording it.

He cursed under his breath, as he decided that he probably had stayed in there for long enough. He looked at the unconscious bears, as his body once more changed, becoming once again white and furry, as he knelt in to search on their wallets, and took off some money that they had in there.

Since he was at it, he also took of the shirt that one of them was wearing beneath the suit, and he fixed on his body. It was a bit big, and also a bit loose on him, but it would do. He lighted yet another cigarette, and he was still smoking it as he walked out of the club, and no one tried to stop him.

* * *

"How long will he keep looking at the screens like that?" A llama nurse said to another, referring to Jeff "He has been like that for around three hours now."

Jeff only continued to look at the screens, seeming to be at full attention to all of them, as he did, Alex and Linda were just close by. Alex was just sitting on the chair, with his chin resting on his arms, while Linda was reading a book that the hospital staff had provided to her a few days ago. It was a romance, and while she still had some trouble to understand that at one moment or another, she found it to be quite catchy and a good read.

"Is anything of what you are seeing good?" Alex asked Jeff, who didn't turned to him and continued to look at the screens, as he said, "Yeah, you know how the drill of tv usually is: hundreds of channels, and nothing that is really good. Still, there are things that are quite worth the time. This movie of the weasel and tigress is really touching."

"Yeah, I bet." Alex said, and Linda simply continued to read her book while the boys talked, and as they did, someone came into the room.

"Hello, I hope I'm not interrupting." Said the familiar voice of doctor Moosard as he walked to the three mammals in there, and the nurses who had been in the room walked out. Alex and Linda both stopped to look at him, greeting the doctor. Jeff, on the other side, didn't even moved his head, but he raised his arm and his voice in a brief greeting to the doctor. The moose looked at him, and at his two friends.

"Sorry about that." Linda said, casting a glare at the mouse, who wasn't even looking, "When he is too focused on something sometimes he is a little rude with people."

The reprove for his actions was clear in her voice, but Jeff either didn't noticed or didn't minded it, as he continued to look at the screens in front of him, and the small mouse said, "Well, I just assume that it is clear that I'm hearing people when I respond to their greeting." The mouse said with his high-pitched voice, and Linda simply rolled her eyes. She didn't knew if she should feel annoyed or amused that, even by changing into a mouse, it seemed that Jeff had actually changed nothing at all.

"What is it, doc?" Alex said, and the moose looked back at them.

"Well, it is just that the others are interested in reassuming the testing from where they stopped." The doctor said, and Alex had to hold back a groan. These things were starting to annoy him seriously.

"I just hope they don't make me waste hours just create sparks in between my hands again." Alex said, "I'm getting tired of that."

"Also…" The doctor added, and this time he was looking at the small mouse. "They'd also like to see you, if possible, Mr. Small."

As he said that, the small mammal chuckled, "Yeah, of course they want." He spoke, and the doctor looked down at him.

"They seem to all have gotten an interest in you, and they actually want run a few tests with you, mostly to verify your claims."

"Don't tell me." Jeff said, "They want to make interviews, make IQ tests, and also make some resonances of my brain to see if it has more activity than regular." The mouse said as he continued to look at the diminutive televisions and laptops in front of himself. "Well, I can already tell what they will get, I'll make out perfect scores in the IQ tests and they see that my brain works in full steam, unless the working of my anatomy has changed in the past days."

The moose looked at him, and then at his two friends, but both the cougar and gazelle simply shrugged, and the doctor sighed, as he looked back at the small rodent. "Mr. Small, I can really assure you that I'll only have your best interests in mind."

The rodent this time actually turned his head away from the screens, and looked straight up at the moose, as if he was trying to evaluate if he was lying. Doctor Moosard only continued to look down at him, and he said: "If you agree, I assure you that there will be the same conditions that are present to Mr. Hunter and Ms. Thompson. You will have complete freedom over the course of the tests, and you will be able to refuse or stop them at any moment that you feel uncomfortable. There will be no invasive procedures of any kind. I can give you my word on this."

Jeff looked up at him while the moose looked back down at him. This only lasted a few moments, before the mouse speak up. "Okay." And he simply turned around to turn off all of the televisions and the laptops, this, of course, left the moose a bit startled.

As Jeff turned around, the moose was looking at him with a bit of surprise, and the mouse simply said. "Alex and Linda both trust you, and after the days that they had passed in here, they seem to be fine and not to have been harmed in any visible way. So, I can assure that you will extend this trust to me and keep your word to save me from any unpleasant experience that I could face in here. Besides, I kind of like your face, you seem like a decent fella." He spoke that, and he smiled, "I guess I can confidently take a chance by trusting you to keep your word."

Moosard blinked at him, and looked at his two friends, who simply smiled at the moose, and they both shook their heads. Yeah, that was just Jeff being Jeff.

"Well… I'm glad that you put your trust in me so promptly." Said the moose, and the mouse just nodded at him.

"Yeah, I guess you can say so, now, would you mind giving me a ride? I'm still not very confident walking around in a place where someone can step on me by accident." Jeff said, and he gestured to the moose. The doctor only took a moment to understand, as he lowered his head into the table, and the mouse quickly hopped on his hand. The doctor was careful as he raised it, and soon he was guiding Jeff and the other two outside.

As they walked outside, they attracted a few looks from the hospital staff as they looked at them and whispered among themselves.

"Is it them?"

"Yes, the meta mammals in the flesh!"

"The new one just arrived today. They say that the mouse is like a Ewestein."

"Being smart is a super power?"

Jeff chuckled to himself as he heard the others around him make their commentaries and assumptions. One of the first things that he had observed as he changed into a mouse, was that his senses seemed to have become sharper than they were when he was a human. His hearing in particular had increased a lot, and his sense of smell was also better than it was when he was a human, and it was already good. Jeff sure took a while to get himself used to the new sensations that he had as a mouse, but as he did, he found that these senses were coming to be very useful to him, as they were to help him smell the soy milk into the shirt of the big buffalo police chief. And now it was helping him to hear the things that these guys were saying all around. This was still going to prove to be very useful to him in the future, of that much Jeff was sure.

"So, Mr. Small, I'm surprised that I never heard of someone like you." Doctor Moosard said, "I mean, someone who is clearly as mentally gifted as you, I imagine you would have made a little name for yourself into some scientific fields."

"Yeah, I thought about that." Jeff said as he looked up at the moose. "But I didn't felt like having a lot of attention on myself, even though I made some very interesting suppositions and also a few very good projects. I value my privacy, though, I don't want everybody coming to me asking me to solve their problems or asking me to create something like a teleporter or an antigravity device."

"You can?" Moosard asked, looking surprised at the mouse, but Jeff only waved dismissively.

"Nah, I'm sure I could, but it would take a very long time, and honestly, I'm not sure if I want to do these things, they would require some technology that the world is not ready for yet, and it could take a few years of work." He spoke that as if he was talking about a regular topic, like why he didn't choose to eat cheese in the morning. "But I already did a few very interesting things, like that attempt at a death ray when I was thirteen."

"You built a death ray?" Moosard asked.

"No, he  _attempted_  to build one." Alex said, as he walked right by Moosard's side.

"It was supposed to be a sonic death ray, aimed at canines. You know, there was one in our block that was really mean to me." Jeff said, "I never had attempted that before, and sure, I might be smart but I'm still prone to failures."

"So, this ray didn't worked?" Moosard asked, wondering if he should feel glad about it.

"Yeah, kind of. I mean, no canine died, but in the moment I turned it on, a family of elephants who lived nearby went bananas until I turned it off." Jeff said, as he thought it to be somewhat funny, what made the doctor feel unease.

The event the mouse was describing had really happened. That thing that Jeff had built was aimed to affect dogs, more particularly, one that was rather viciously and had chased him home more than once. Jeff's family happened to live very close to a zoo at the time. Alex and Linda knew because Jeff had already told this story to them on one occasion, just like he was now telling to the doctor, but of course, changing a little to avoid talking about the subjects that would recall to the human world. Jeff knew better, after all.

"Well, it wasn't supposed to kill anything, to be honest." Jeff admitted to the moose who looked at him as he guided him across the hallways. "It was just supposed to be like a sonic stun gun to incapacitate canines and other animals using sound waves instead of electricity."

Moosard nodded, and as he walked, they coincidentally walked into Bogo, who nearly bumped into the moose as he walked.

"Oh, sorry!"

The buffalo sighed, and he was about to turn around and leave, when Jeff looked at him and asked, "What happened?"

The buffalo stopped to look at him, and the mouse said, "By your expression, and by that vein on your temple, I would say that it is something serious."

Bogo looked at him for a few seconds, and at the other animals.

"What happened?" Linda asked, and Bogo looked at her, right before sighing.

"I just got a call from central. Apparently there is a brawn into a bar in Tundratown, and the witness claim that the offender was another meta mammal."

"What?" Alex asked, as the four animals looked at the buffalo, who sighed, and said:

"According to the one who made the call, the two securities were attacked by a polar bear that seemed to be made of gold. I'm going there to see how it goes on." He just turned around to leave, when Jeff's voice was heard.

"Can I go with you?"

This made Bogo stop and blink. Had he just heard that?

The cape buffalo slowly turned around, and he looked at the mouse on the hands of the moose. The moose had a surprised look on his face, while the mouse simply looked up at him expecting.

"Excuse me?" Bogo asked, looking over his shoulder at the mouse, and the small rodent simply repeated:

"I want to go and see what this is about." He was saying it as if he was asking something simple and like it was something that he was supposed to ask now that he had the chance, around the same way that his son asked for ice cream when they were having a walk in the park and passed by a vendor.

Bogo turned to him, his finger raised, and he had his mouth open to speak, but before he could, the mouse interrupted him by talking first:

"Okay, you are probably gonna say that this is not my business and that you can't allow someone who just arrived to meddle into affairs that clearly belong to the ZPD. However, I have to say that my singular skills could be of great use for you into the investigation, besides, I guess that since a meta mammal is involved, the opinion of a meta mammal could be of great use for you in this kind of matter, right?"

Bogo looked at him, and he opened his mouth again, but before he could produce a single sound, the mouse chimed again:

"And you don't have to worry about my own safety, I can assure you that despite my small size I can very well fend for myself, and besides, is not like we will find trouble in that club you talked about, right? The meta mammal would obviously be away from there by now, and I guess that my presence could actually prove to be useful for your investigations."

Bogo looked at him in silence, and he internally fumed as he looked at the small rodent, who seemed to almost be able to read his mind. However, the small rodent was just smart. TOO smart. He was able to counter anything that the buffalo could come up with, and he seemed that he was not going to give up until he was able to get what he wanted.

"Jeff, are you sure?" Linda asked, and the mouse looked over at her.

"Yeah, don't worry. I'll be fine, you know that I've always cared for myself."

"But now you're-"

"I know that I have not been doing my exercises as I was supposed to, but I can assure you that I still can fight my own battles." Jeff intermitted, before Linda could say something that would be harder to explain later on. Linda only looked at him, seeming to be worried, and Alex looked over, and he said:

"I'm going too."

Bogo looked surprised at him, and the cougar simply said, "Well, I proved that I could help with Rhinehart. I guess I can be useful now."

Bogo looked at the cougar, and back at the mouse, and at doctor Moosard. The big bovine groaned as he pinched the bridge of his snout. "For the love of… Fine!" Bogo finally said, throwing his arms up in defeat. "You two can come, just don't make me regret it." Bogo said, and he turned around and started to walk away, and the cougar looked at his girlfriend, who looked back at him, and she seemed about to say something.

"I'll be fine." Alex said to her, "I'll be fine and I'll come back safe. I promise."

She just looked at him, before sighing, and nodding. Alex nodded back, and he walked forward, being side to side with doctor Moosard, who looked back at him. Alex simply nodded at him, and stretched his hand, allowing Jeff to jump from the moose's hand to his'.

"Well, looks like we'll have to change our plans." Small said to the doctor. "Please, tell the others that Mr. Hunter and I are sorry, but other things appeared, and we'll have to try it later on." He waved to him as Alex moved forward, carrying Jeff with him, and leaving behind a slightly stunned Moosard and a worried-looking Linda…

* * *

In the club of Tundratown, the police officers were taking notes on the statements of the witnesses. All of them claiming pretty much the same thing: the securities tried to put another polar bear out of the club, and this bear turned into gold and beat the crap out of the two securities.

Said securities had already been taken outside to receive medical care. Moe had a broken knuckled and he had to be taken for a concussion, and Billy was said to have suffered some trauma on his head, a few lost teeth and maybe a fracture on his muzzle. They both seemed serious, but luckily, none of them was in risk of dying.

Though the area was priority of the police precincts of Tundratown, there were two teams of officers who were from precinct one and were in there to serve as support. They were Fangmeyer and Wolfard, a tiger and a wolf, and our favorite duo of bunny and fox officers, Hopps and Wilde.

"So, they guy turned into gold in the moment the security tried to punch him?" Nick asked to the witness, an arctic fox around his own size.

"Yeah, he just tried to punch him and broke his hand." She said to him, and as she did, Judy, who was right by the side, took notes. "It was kind of scary, I mean, how often that happens? And that guy could very well turn on us! This make me really insecure." She continued, and then she added, "Good thing that now has a cute little cop here to give me protection."

She smiled seductively at Nick, who blinked surprised at her, and Judy's ears fell flat as she simply raised her look, demonstrating an annoyed expression as she looked at her. "Ma'am, I think it would be better if you just related the facts that occurred." She said, and the fox simply looked at her with kind of a dirty look.

"Excuse me!" Said a strong voice, as a familiar form was opening space into the crowd that was into the place, and soon was attracting the looks of others as he made his way into what now officially a crime scene. The eyes turned to Bogo, the police chief of precinct one, and soon another big form came on his meeting.

"Bogo! Nice to see you here." Said the big polar bear with a claw mark scar over the right side of his muzzle, as he shook the hand of his fellow police officer. Chief Reuben Ursini was the police chief of the ZPD at the main precinct of Tundratown, and he was an old friend of Bogo while they both were in the academy.

"Ursini. What do we have here?" Bogo asked.

"Apparently a polar bear who can turn into gold. One of these 'meta mammals' everybody talks about now." The polar bear said as he looked around, "Since you and your folks seem to have the more experience with them, I thought it could be nice to contact you." He said as he looked over, and soon, there was a commotion in the entrance of the crime scene.

"Hey, you can't come in!" Said a reindeer police officer as he stood in the way of the cougar who was trying to get pass. Some looked at him, and it didn't took long for that feline to start being recognized by the ones who were in there. Chief Ursini was among them, and he looked at the cougar, and back at the buffalo, who just sighed as he looked at the officers, and said, "Is okay, they are with me!"

By hearing that, the officer who had stopped the cougar on his tracks looked at the buffalo, and then at his own chief. Ursini looked at him and nodded, and the reindeer opened way, allowing the cougar to pass. As Alex moved on, a small voice on his cupped hand said, "I'm sorry for your divorce!"

As Alex approached, Ursini could see a small rodent into the hand of the cougar, and this one looked up at him as the feline stood in front of him. The polar bear looked at him, and then at Bogo, who simply said, "They insisted in coming, said that they could help."

"And indeed we can! Well, I know that  _I_  can." The mouse said, and Alex simply looked down at him, before rolling his eyes. "Jeffrey Small at your service! Now, if you would be kind enough to let us into the club, I might be able to analyze the scene and help you come up with a conclusion."

The bear simply looked down at the rodent, and could only think that the small thing had some nerve. Arriving into a place and already asking to see the crime scene as if he was a police officer or another authority of the matter. Ursini simply looked at Bogo, and he said, "The cougar I can understand, but the mouse?"

"He has some skills." Bogo said simply, "Besides, if you don't let him he might come up with something to try to convince you. That is why they came with me, in the first place."

The polar bear looked at him, and at the two mammals who had just arrived with the buffalo, and he sighed, before saying, "Follow me. The forensic team is already inside, try not the get on the way and neither ruining the crime scene." He said, and he gestured them to follow as he walked inside, passing by the police band on the local, and soon, Bogo and the other two were going into the place.

"Man, this place is chilling." Alex said in a low voice as they walked into the place.

Jeff looked up to him and he said, "Well, it  _is Tundra_ town, right?"

Yeah, Alex had already realized that, still it amazed him that the same city that could have such a warm climate like the one he faced into Savannah Central for the past week, could also have such a cold climate like that. Alex couldn't help but wonder how they actually managed to pull that one out…

As they walked inside, there was already teams of forensic scientists into the place, and they were taking pictures, analyzing the scene and even collecting samples from the counter and of the ground. Some were even trying to collect samples from a crumpled-looking metal chair on the ground.

As they walked inside, someone quickly acknowledged them, and it was a snow leopard who greeted Ursini. "Chief, we have been trying to find DNA samples in here, but it seems like that bear didn't actually touched anything, but we the rest of a cigarette, and we hope to be able to take some DNA from it." He said, as he noticed the other animals coming with him, and the other feline called his attention.

"Wait a minute, aren't you-"

"So, the suspect was smoking?" A squeakily voice asked, making the snow leopard look at the mouse, and he simply looked at the rodent, with a little surprise, by the way.

"Please, answer the question." Said Ursini, and the snow leopard soon was answering.

"Y-yes, he was smoking in here. That was what started the turmoil in first place." The feline said as he gestured around. "According to the bartender the polar bear continued to smoke even after being warned that it was forbidden inside. That was when he called the securities and the whole thing went south."

Jeff listened to him, and he looked over at that crumpled chair into the ground, and he was able to notice something about it.

"Alex, put me down." Jeff said, what surprised the cougar and the ones who were near.

"What?"

"Put me down! I want to see a thing!" The rodent insisted, and Alex looked at the others, who seemed as surprised as him. Eventually, Alex decided to simply do what Jeff had asked at him, and lowered his hand until the mouse could comfortably hop from it to the ground, and he immediately dashed into the ground in direction to that chair.

"Hey!"

"What?"

"What the!?"

Many got startled as that little rodent moved past them as fast as his small legs could carry him, and soon, he was arriving into the chair, which was already marked with a number plate as an evidence. As he arrived, he immediately surprised the forensic professional who was taking pictures of the chair. "Hi! I'm Jeff, and I'm going to climb in this chair now!" He said with a smile to him as he immediately moved over the chair and started to climb it in the best of his skills.

"What is he doing!?" Ursini said surprised, and Alex was unable to answer, soon, the three animals were rushing to the place. Jeff had reached an advantage point into the chair, and now he was on all fours over it, as if he was analyzing it closely.

"Hmm, like I suspected." The mouse said, and as he did he sniffed at that spot he was keeling over, and he even put his tongue out and licked it a bit. "Interesting…"

"Hey, mouse!" Said the strong voice of Ursini. "Didn't I told you not to ruin the crime scene!? What are you even doing?"

The mouse looked up at him, and he said, "I might have just gotten an important clue… Can I talk to one of the witnesses?"

"What!?" Ursini said, and Jeff turned to the cougar, "Alex, would you please take me outside?" He said, and Alex hesitated just for a moment, before putting his hand near the spot he was into, and the mouse hopped in. The mouse even turned to the forensic guy and said, "You might want to take a sample of that area. Oh, and if you find rodent DNA it is mine." Soon he and Alex were moving outside.

"What are they doing?" The polar bear demanded of Bogo, who was slightly dumbfolded by what was happening, and the forensic professional was taking a closer look into the area that the rodent had just pointed at him…

Outside, the cougar and were looking around, and seeing if they could find a witness to talk to. Jeff was the one who pointed at one they could talk with. A reindeer dressing like a barman.

As they approached, the mouse said, "I'm sorry, my friend, but by your outfit I can assume that you are the barman of the club. This is a little confirmed now that I'm close and I can smell your scent. Would you mind telling us what happened in there?"

"Who are you?" The reindeer asked, and the mouse simply insisted.

"We are two mammals who might help get the guy who hurt those poor lads if you would kindly give us a little information." He said that with a confidence that left the reindeer a little stunned, and that must have been because of it that the reindeer decided to cooperate.

"Is like I said to the cops. I saw the guy talking to Trixie, she is usually there, and she walked away and he started smoking. I said to him that he should not and the guy just blew smoke on my face! Do you believe it? I just called Moe and Billy expecting them to kick his ass and throw him out. But the guy actually send they both to the hospital! Moe broke his hand trying to punch him and Billy swung a chair at him and it had no effect! After that he took their money and Billy's shirt and walked out while he smoked another."

"Didn't you tried to stop him?" Alex asked.

"Are you kidding me?" The reindeer said to him, "Try to stop a guy who turned into gold and kicked the butts of two of the strongest polar bears I know as if they were nothing? I'm not crazy! The guy would have broken me in half!"

"So, Billy hit him with a metal chair?" The mouse asked.

"Yeah?"

"What sound did it made?"

"What?"

"When the chair connected with the 'golden bear', what sound did it made? It was just a brief sound of metal on metal or the sound resonated?" The mouse asked, and the reindeer looked at him a bit unsure, as he thought about it.

"Well… you see, it was not like when you hit a metal ball into another… no… it was more like a sound… it was like…"

"Like a bell?" Jeffrey asked, and the reindeer stopped a little, and after a while, he said:

"Yeah, it was somewhat like that. The sound just happened and continued for a moment, like the bell of the church near my house!"

The mouse nodded, and he asked, "And the polar bear said anything about himself? His age? His name?"

"When Moe talked to him, he said that his name was Pollard."

"Hunter! Small!" The booming voice of chief Bogo called their attention and almost made the reindeer jump out of his own fur, and they all looked at the approaching buffalo, who did not looked happy, and neither did the polar bear who was following him.

"What was the only thing I asked of you when I agreed that you could come!?"

"I believe it was for us not to make you regret it." Jeff said, while the reindeer was now discreetly moving away, as if knowing that problem was coming.

"Did you came here only to get on the way of the investigation?" Bogo inquired to the mouse specifically, but Alex still felt like he was somewhat into the line of his anger. Jeff only looked back at him.

"I'm sorry, get on the way?"

"You walked straight into the scene and messed with the evidence! And now you are talking with a witness without our consent!" Bogo demanded, "It seems to be that you are getting on the way of the investigation!"

Jeff looked at him, seeming offended. "Well, excuse me for discovering important information regarding the suspect and his powers."

"What?" Bogo asked, eyeing him.

"In the moment we were inside, I was able to notice a slightly shine in that crumpled chair." Jeff explained to the bigger animals. "Upon coming closer, I was able to take a good look at it. It seems that Billy, the security polar bear, has swung the chair with enough strength that, when it connected with the suspect, it was able to cause some material transference, much like the paint transference that happens in car impacts."

The bigger animals all shared looks as they took the information that the small mammal, and the rodent only continued. "The residue indeed had an yellow color consistent with what would you expect from gold. However, once I was able to touch it, I was able to notice a keen difference. You see, upon the contact with skin, many metals let out the familiar metallic smell, in this case, the smell I could sense and taste with my keen senses was of something that I surely didn't recognized as gold."

"Gold has a smell?" Ursini asked, and the mouse simply ignored him and continued.

"Once I was able to get this information, I immediately searched for someone who was in there and that could tell me what happened. Luckily, that bartender just fulfilled this function. He was able to tell me what happened in the very moment of when the suspect was hit with the chair. More precisely, he was able to tell me what he heard."

"Heard?" Bogo asked

"He said he heard something like a bell." Alex said, and Jeff pointed at him with a smile.

"That's right! Different metals have different kinds of properties, and there is a metal that, when hit, vibrates and resonates just like a bell. This metal is copper, and this particular vibratory characteristic tends to extend to the alloys that are made by mixing cooper with other metals."

"Now, what kind of metal is a form of copper alloy, vibrates like a bell when hit, and has a yellow color that is very similar to gold?"

There was a silence as he asked that, and the bigger animals only looked at each other, none of them really knew what they were supposed to say. Since they didn't gave any answer, Jeff decided to answer his own question.

"Brass, my friends." Jeff said, much like a professor speaking to his students. "Brass is this particular alloy, made of cooper and zinc." He looked up at the other animals, and he concluded. "We are searching for a polar bear who has the power to turn his own body into brass."

Bogo and Ursini only stared at him. "You concluded all of that after a few seconds in there?" Ursini asked, not knowing if he should laugh or feel completely baffled at this. The mouse just looked up at him, and he said:

"Well, I just did my stuff. By the way, the information of his kind of power allowed to also discover his identity."

"Wait, you know the guy?" Bogo asked.

"Not personally, but I heard about him. The ability to turn into brass, and last name Pollard. I can say that I know the guy only for his reputation, but I can say that, if half of the things I heard about him are true, then it is very likely that he will have more fights as the day moves on."

As he said that, the bigger animals all shared a look…


	14. The Bear, the Shrew, and the Raccoon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pollard is still on his way to escape authorities, as the cops, Alex and Jeff still try to get on his trail. Meanwhile, Pollard ends up attracted to a certain important figure in this part of Tundratown...

Pollard was walking around the place. He was glad that he was able to walk in a place normally without having to worry about the heat.

There was snow everywhere, and he knew that he was supposed to be shivering in cold without some proper clothing, especially for his feet being bare. However, he instead felt very better being in there than he had been in anywhere else.

That week had been hell to him. First he had been sucked out by some freaky whirlpool of light, and he was dumped somewhere he didn't knew. The next thing he knew was there were several animals around him, poking him with sticks. And these animals could talk!

That day had been really crazy to him, for not only he realized that he was surrounded by talking animals, but he had himself turned into one! He could barely believe when he looked his own reflection on a car's side mirror to see the muzzle of a polar bear looking back at him.

As if that wasn't enough, there was the heat.

Man, he never realized just how hot it could be in places where he was supposed to feel warm and comfortable. He just knew that either it was something with that world or with him, because he could only stand that heat for so long before it started to make him feel like he spent hours under a hot sun of a desert.

He remembered that, in the place he was in, he had to get himself a room in some special hotels that had some super air conditioners that kept the place so cold that frost actually started to form on the furniture. Still, to him, it was like walking from a desert into a nice and cozy environment.

He had to keep it like that for a few days, before he heard about this city, Zootopia, which was said to have a special climate in it for animals from the tundra, like the one he had become. It was kind of tempting to him, and he admittedly wanted to go in there.

The problem was money, for two days earlier someone smuggled the little money he had left. Of course, this did not really stopped him, for he just needed to press at some of these smaller animals for them to give him their money. He didn't even needed his powers for that.

He didn't even believed truly into the said city with different climates in it, but he was prove wrong as soon as he arrived. The feeling of walking in a tundra was something equivalent to the feeling that these rooms gave to him, making him feel comfortable and like he was into a very cozy place.

If he was still human, he would need some good clothes to feel warm in that place, but after what he had been through, he loved the feeling of cold that the place transmitted him. Of course, this did not stopped the problems from coming his way, like the events that had happened a while ago into that club.

Pollard grunted to himself as he felt that loose suit on his body. The polar bear who he took it from was at least one number bigger than him, and the thing felt a little uncomfortable. Still, it was good on him. He also had managed to gain a little more money to attend to his immediate needs.

Still, he knew that what happened in there would call attention, and he didn't needed to think a lot to know that. He has used his powers into a room full of other of these animals, and he knew that they were surely going to call the authorities on him. However, Pollard was not that worried, he didn't even thought twice on revealing his powers to these guys because his life was already very messed up. However, he knew that he would need to move on and to find a way to avoid the cops, if he wanted to avoid being threw into a cell that would be just as hot as the places he had been in before arriving into that place named… Tundratown?

Pollard knew that the first step would be getting some better clothing, to help him blend in. After all, that place had several other polar bears, what were the chances of them recognizing him after he changed into a new set of clothes?

Looking around, he was able to take sight of a clothing store with the name "Bearberry", and he headed straight to that.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, he walked out of the dresser wearing a new set of clothing. He was wearing black-slack pants, a long-sleeved shirt of purple color, and a black blazer to cover his body, which made him look rather good, in his own opinion.

"Wonderful!" Said the saleswoman, a snow leopardess who was wearing some simple, but elegant dress, and had her hands clasped as she looked at him. Pollard had to agree with her, he did looked nice in this. That was the kind of clothing that he preferred, and it actually seemed the clothing that he was wearing the night he had ended up in that alien world.

He had to let go of these clothes a while ago, for they were terrible to him now that he was so sensitive to the heat. He had to abandon them in favor of some very light clothing, which made him more comfortable in the heat he felt. Now that he was in a more welcoming environment, he could wear what he wanted.

He smiled as he adjusted the sleeves of his blazer, as the saleswoman smiled at him. "These look absolutely gorgeous in you, sir!"

"I'll say." Pollard said, as he looked back at the mirror into the dresser one last time, and he agreed that the thing really looked good in him. "I guess these are the right clothes for me."

"Perfect! Now you can get back into your regular clothes and we will pack these for you." The saleswoman said.

"No need." Pollard said, "I'll be wearing them now."

The saleswoman was surprised. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me." He said, and pulled out a lot of notes. He removed half of them, and handed them to the leopardess. "I'll be leaving now."

He said, and he started to walk away.

"B-but sir… this is not how it works here! You need to pay in the cash register! And they have to remove the anti-theft devices!"

Pollard stopped for a moment to look back at her. Oh yeah, he had forgotten about these. He looked at the clothes he had just bought, and was able to sight these anti-theft things. He sighed as he looked at his own paw, and it soon became golden and metallic, and he moved it in direction to these things.

He easily broke them one by one, letting them fall to the ground into pieces, and allowing him to just walk out with the clothes, all under the surprise gaze of the leopardess.

On his way out, he passed by the accessories, and he stopped for a moment to look at a pair of shades. He looked at one pair that seemed really nice, and he picked them up and put them on his face. They fit just like a charm.

Smiling to himself, Pollard simply walked outside of the store without even bothering to look at the sides or anywhere else…

* * *

"I can't believe that you have really figured that much out in so little time." Said Nick to Jeff. He and Judy had approached them after they first noted their presence in the place, and they soon discovered that Small alone had nearly cracked up completely the case.

"What can I say?" Jeff said to the fox. "I pay more attention than most mammals."

Jeff said, and the other animals around shared looks. Ursini and Bogo both looked at Alex, who simply shrugged once more. He could say that this was only Jeff being Jeff, and if they knew him, they would know exactly what Alex was talking about…

"Anyway, I think we still have the problem of finding that 'Pollard' guy before he makes some damage." Ursini said, "After all, you said the guy is famous for getting into fights, right?"

"Yeah, and I think that maybe calling someone from your precinct and get them to access the traffic cams would be a good idea." Jeff said, as if he was stating something obvious.

"Well, duh!" Nick said, and he added, "Anyway, when we find this guy, maybe Mr. Lightning Paws can give him a shock that he will never forget."

"I'm not so sure…" Jeff said as he thought about it, and Alex looked down at him, and was about to ask him a question, when another officer came and said.

"Sir, we are having some issues with the video recordings." The moose in police uniform said, and the othes looked at him, before Ursini asked:

"What problem?"

"They don't let us have access to the cameras." The moose said, "They say that we need a warrant for that."

"Dammit." Ursini said, "This happens every time we come to a place like this."

"Wait, what happen? What kind of place?" Alex asked, and Ursini sighed.

"This club belongs to Mr. Big."

"Who?"

"Alfonso Big." Jeff said as he looked up to Alex. "Quite a name here in Tundratown, famous as a businessman who owns several kinds of establishments in here. This on the public eye, of course, on the underworld, he is said to be an individual involved with all kinds of things, like racketeering, money laundry, and extortion. He is also said to have several henchmen working for him."

Alex looked down at him, "Wait, so the guy is from organized crime?"

"More like Mafia. If half of what they say is truth." Jeff said.

"Anyway." Ursini said, catching their attention once more. "We already had some situations involving Mr. Big, and every time something happens in one of the places he owns, we need to get a special permission to look into anything regarding the place and everyone who works in there. We might take up to a day or two to get this kind of access."

"We don't have this time." Bogo said. Meanwhile, Judy and Nick shared a look. Nick was smiling at her, and Judy nodded. The bunny cop pulled out her carrot phone, and dialed a quick number. Soon, she was having it in her ear, and soon, she was talking to someone.

"Hey, Fru Fru! How you doing?" Judy said, and soon the other animals were looking at her.

"Oh, I'm fine, and how is your daughter? That's great! Look, is your father there? I'd like to talk to him." Judy said, and the other animals shared a look among themselves, confused, except for Nick, who had a sly smirk on his muzzle. Ursini actually was about to ask her what she was doing and who was she calling, when the bunny said.

"Mr. Big, hi!"

The other animals all looked dumb folded at Judy, as she was now talking to the biggest crime boss from Tundratown. Nick continued to smirk, while Bogo wasn't all that surprised, once he already knew about certain details of Hopps' "relationships". Judy continued talking, seemingly oblivious to the rest of the animals around her.

"Yes, look, I'm right here in the Club Iceberg with Nick and some other officers… Yeah, you already heard about it right..? Well, I don't know, they are going to the hospital, none of them is in danger… Yeah, I glad too… Anyway, we were hoping to be able to look at the video cams, so we could be able to get a better look into the mammal we are looking for, but they don't let us access it… Yes, I know, but we really need it… We just want to find that mammal who attacked your employers and prevent him from hurting innocents… We just need it to find him… please?"

There was a few moments of silence, and then Judy smiled. "Thank you, Mr. Big… What? Yeah, he is right next to me…" Judy said, and she looked up at the polar bear police chief. "Huhhh, okay, I'll tell him. Bye…"

She said as she hung up. She looked to the animals who were looking down at her, and she said. "Uhhh, Chief Ursini… Mr. Big said that he hopes that your family is okay, and he will be seeing you in the court in two days for that accusation, and he wishes you a very good day."

Ursini only looked back at the bunny with a slacked jaw and a dumb folded expression. He almost seemed to have forgotten how to talk, as he just mumbled something, as if he was trying to figure out what he could say in that situation. Alex and Jeff just shared a look among them, both seemed equally surprised, and surprising Jeff was something that Alex knew that was difficult.

"Now what?" Bogo asked, seeming unmoved by that whole situation.

"Now we wait for Mr. Big to work his magic." Nick said, with his hands casually on his pockets.

True to Nick's words, less than five minutes later, an arctic wolf came to greet them. "Officers, I'm terribly sorry for the problem, now if you follow me, I'll guide you to the security room, where we can all give a look into security footage from today."

Judy and Nick smiled, as they walked forward, right behind the wolf, and the rest of the animals just followed them. Alex couldn't help but ask.

"Judy… how do you have Mr. Big's number?"

"Oh, that was not his number. It was his daughter's, Fru Fru."

"… How do you have Mr. Big's  _daughter's_  number?"

"Oh, she is a good friend." Judy said, "I am her daughter's godmother." Judy said, as if this was something of a casual conversation. Alex only looked back at Jeff, and he knew that the mouse was probably as unsure of what thinking of this situation as he was.

Soon the arctic wolf guided them in direction to somewhere in the upper floors, and soon they were into a what seemed to be a control room with several screens in a wall, with two other arctic wolves in the controls, both dressed as securities. They both looked surprised when the officers walked in, and they both seemed ready to get up, when the arctic wolf that was with them made a subtle gesture that made them both calm down and remain in their seats.

"So, Mr. Big said that we could show you the footage from when that nasty bear was here earlier." The wolf said, and the wolves in the chairs spun and started to press a few buttons. "Since the bear was only in the area of the bar and of the club, there is no need for you to see any other area, right?"

That was a rhetorical question, and as the wolf said that, the other two immediately pressed a few other buttons that made several other screens of the wall go black. Ursini scoffed to himself. Of course, Big was not going to give them full access only because someone asked. The very fact that he was even giving them any access was impressive. He surely felt something towards that bunny. If it was gratitude, respect, or fear, it was totally up for the polar bear to guess…

"Here it is." One of the wolves in the chairs said as he pressed play. The cameras started to play back from the footage of a few hours ago. The animals in the room looked with attention to the footage.

"This is when the guy walked in." The wolf said as he pointed at one camera that showed the entrance/exit of the club. They all could see a polar bear walking inside in what seemed to be summer clothing, and he was looking around as he entered the place.

"So, this is the guy we are searching for." Judy said as she looked at the footages, jumping into the counter to be able to take a closer look. She saw when the polar bear walked out of sight of the camera, and soon, the wolf pointed her to another camera, which showed the polar bear going to the bar and talking with someone.

"Who is that one?" Alex asked.

"Patricia." Said the wolf, "She tends to be around here during the morning and also during the night. Mostly during the night. She is a sweet of person."

They watched as she turned around and left the bear alone in the bar, and it was possible to see in her face that she was not very happy.

"Well, I guess that bear didn't made her feel very sweet." Nick said, and the cameras continued.

"That is the point from which things went south." The wolf said, they all saw the polar bear being talk to by the bartender, and the rest was already what they had been told.

"Do you see?" Jeff asked. "Brass! I knew it was that! You can see from here, it might have the same color as gold, but definitely does not shine the same way that it does."

They looked as the bear, which had turned into the metallic material, was able to beat up the other two bears into submission. "Ouch! That gotta hurt…" Alex said as he saw the metallic bear slapping the other in the face, and he was sure that he had seen a few of his teeth flying out of his mouth.

Next to that, they saw the mammal removing the wallets of the bears and taking their money. Before he took the jacket of one of them, wore it, and just walked his way out, no one stood on his way.

"No one tried to stop him from leaving?" Judy asked. One of the wolves in the chairs was the one who answered.

"These two bears he put down were our top security in here, and they had the fame of being very good in brawls, and for having once put an elephant into submission. That guy put them out and made that look easy. Would you try to stop him?"

Judy didn't answered, but it was clear in her expression what the answer was. Bogo was the next one to talk. "This is all you have from him?" The wolves nodded.

"Any chances we can get copies of these?" Judy asked, and this made the wolves look at her with suspicion. "We can use them to let the other officers to know what our suspect looks like."

Alex looked down at Jeff, and he whispered. "They  _need_  a description? I mean, he is a bear…"

"Just like one-third of the population of Tundratown." Jeff remembered him, and Alex had to admit that he was right.

The wolves, meanwhile, seemed to have agreed with Judy, and they said that they were going to get the officers a copy of these parts of the footage. It was a way of saying that they would have  _only_ that specific footage and none other, and Ursini was fully aware of that, because he knew that the guys would not want to give Big any reason to be mad at them.

"Well, it was better than I imagined." Jeff said, and the group couldn't help but agree with him. "Now, we just need to find Mr. Pollard before he makes any more damages than he already did." As he spoke that, Jeff couldn't shake the feeling that this was not going to happen. After all, he already heard a few things about that guy, and he was pretty sure that making damage was among one of his specialties…

* * *

Pollard continued to walk as he puffed yet another cigarette, letting out the smoke through his nostrils as he continued to take a good look in that place around him. He had to admit, the place that they called "Tundratown" was actually very nice, and he wouldn't mind living in there.

He puffed again, and the cigarette that he had been puffing reduced to nothing. He removed the last bit of the stub and simply threw it into the street. He continued to walk as he looked around, taking time to enjoy that place for a while before he would decide what to do next.

Without even realizing, he was walking into a shady part of the city, a neighborhood that most people would avoid, even in that hour of the day. The buildings were a little more decadent in that part, and the people gave that bear a few looks as he walked into there.

The bear was barely minding them, as he simply continued to walk. Soon, he was walking among a few corners, in there, and in one of them, some of them had mammals in there, and they were doing different things, from beating each other up to selling a few things. Walking around these places, he heard something that caught his attention.

"The best cigars in all Zootopia!"

The bear stopped, and he looked. It was in an alley, and it was into what seemed to be a shady stand ran by two arctic foxes, with fur as white as the snow and with simple clothing. The bear raised an eyebrow, as the foxes continued to announce their product.

"This is first brand material! Cigars imported from the island and hand-made!"

"The same kind you can buy from the great industries, but you can buy from our paws for only a fraction of the price!"

They were talking to a few mammals who were passing, and while most ignored them, others stopped, and actually bought some of the cigars. Pollard could have continued to walk and just ignored these two foxes and their seemingly dubious business, but a part of him got curious, and he decided to walk to them.

As he approached, the foxes continued to offer their product to the ones around them, and they were actually about to sell a box to a snow leopard, when he noticed the bear approaching and immediately turned heel and left as quickly as he could.

"Hey! Wait! We make a special offer to you!" Said the fox who was offering him the box, unaware of the mammal approaching from behind. The other fox, however, saw the bear, and had an expression of horror in his face as he approached. He nudged the other fox to call his attention, making him turn around and see the bear too, just in time for his shadow to obscure both of them.

They both looked up at the much bigger polar bear. They had expressions of deep fear in their faces, and Pollard only looked down at him, as the silence hanged into the air.

"I-i-is him from…" One fox stammered.

"Never seen his face before." The other answered.

"Yeah, but they said they would send someone today, right?"

"Maybe is a new guy?"

Pollard only looked back at them, and at the improvised stand that they had. There were many boxes of cigars, some of them bigger, and others smaller. One of them actually seemed ridiculously big. Pollard reached out for one box, and unceremoniously opened it, popping the seal open. He picked a cigar from inside, took it to his nose, and gave it a deep sniff.

Man, that thing  _was_  of good quality.

The bear sighed as he put the cigar down, and looked at the foxes. "So, how business going for you, boys?" He asked, and the foxes immediately forced themselves to smile to him, even thought it was obvious that they were still scared.

"Oh, t-they are v-very good!" The first fox said, and the other added, in a much more cheerful tone:

"Yes! It was a good week! Very good indeed! You understand that, don't you man?" He was approaching the bear as he talked, and Pollard immediately raised a paw, making him stop.

"You stay in there." He said between his teeth, making the fox look at him with his ears flat in his head from fear. "The last fox I let get too close to me stole my wallet."

"O-oh… I see. But I assure you that I would never do that." He said with a smile, and the polar bear only continued to look down at him with a sneer. The fox took this as a signal to give a few steps back.

"Anyway!" The other fox said, and he pulled out another box from under the stand. "We were able to gather a great amount of money, and it might be enough to pay." He said as he separated a wad of money, and handed it to the polar bear. Pollard raised an eyebrow, and reach out for the money, giving it a look, and then looking back at the foxes, who seemed nearly to shrink under his gaze.

"I-I know it is not what was agreed, but you have to understand that we still have mouths to feed back home." The fox said, and he added. "But we have something here!" He said as he once more dove under the stand, and fished out something. At first, the polar bear thought he had gotten nothing, but soon, the fox was showing him something that almost seemed a matchbox. No. It was smaller than a matchbox.

The bear leaned forward as the fox opened it, and Pollard had to really squint his eyes to be able to see what was inside that diminutive box. It looked like cigars…

"These are quality ones." The fox said to him, "They were imported from the best manufacturer. They are hard to get, but I know a guy who knows a guy in Outback Island. You know that everything is legal in there, don't you?" The fox said as he winked at the bear.

Pollard only looked at him with a raised eyebrow, looking in between the two foxes and the cigars, which looked to be so small that only a mouse would be able to smoke them.

As they were talking, none of them noticed a car parking in front of the alley, and neither the two polar bears walking out of it. That is, until one of them said aloud.

"Okay, the stand is closed!"

This caught the attention of the three mammals, making them look at the two polar bears who had came in there, and one of them was looking at Pollard.

"You can go walking out, pal."

Pollard looked at them, and one of the foxes said:

"Oh! Raymond! Kevin! Nice to see you guys!" He sounded nervous as he said that. "Jill and I were just finishing the business with your new guy here!"

"Our… new guy?" One of the polar bears asked.

"Yeah, he is a nice fella! Don't talk much, but I guess the best are like that, huh?"

The polar bears looked at them, and then they looked at polar, as one of them said. "Just who the hell are you?"

The foxes got confused at this, and one of them asked. "Wait… you don't work to Mr. Big?"

"Who is Mr. Big?" The polar bear asked, and the other four animals shared looks among them.

"You are new in town, aren't you?" One of the polar bears asked, and Pollard turned his gaze back at him.

"Yes, why?"

"Figured." The polar bear said. "Mr. Big is the mammal who owns Tundratown." He spoke as he walked in direction to that bear. "He runs everything that happens in here. Knows of everything that happens in here. And he won't like that someone is pretending to work for him to get some gain."

Pollard snarled at him.

"Enough of that. Get lost." The other polar bear said, "While we still allow you to just walk away."

"Oh! I-I think I should tell you guys that he has your money." One of the foxes said, making the two polar bears look at him. "I mean, the guy came here dressed like that and looking angry, we assumed he was one of you. So we kind of gave him the money."

The two polar bears shared a look, and they looked at Pollard. The polar bear only looked back at them, and one of the polar bears said. "Okay, hand it over."

"Why?" Pollard asked.

"Because this money belongs to Mr. Big."

"What, did the foxes borrowed it, or something of the like?"

"That is pretty much it." The other polar bear said, and he added, "And unless you want some problem…" He spoke, as he put a hand inside his jacket, reaching for something. "You will hand this money over now."

Pollard looked at the two bears, and he sighed. Before they could react, he punched the first guy in the face, and he grabbed the other polar bear by the scruff of the neck, as his hand turned into golden metal, and he threw him into the wall, knocking him out almost immediately.

The other one pulled something out of his suit, and it was a gun. However, it was no dart gun. This was an actual lethal revolver. He pointed at Pollard, and he was ready to shot. However, Pollard saw him, and immediately, his body turned into golden metal, right in the moment that the polar bear pulled the trigger.

The sounds of gunshots filled the alley, making the foxes yelp and dodge for cover under their stand, while the shots were made at Pollard. However, the bullets hit him with a metallic sound and ricocheted from his body. Pollard grunted as the bullets hit his chest, and some more when they hit his face, forcing him to look to turn his head away instinctively, as the bullets hit him and ricocheted. Some hit the stand, others hit the ground, and one hit the wall right by the side of the other polar bear's head.

The polar bear with the gun looked in shock at Pollard, who looked down at the places where the bullets had hit him. They did not damaged him, but they had bore holes into the clothes he was wearing.

"Seriously?" Pollard asked with his metallic voice, before looking back at the polar bear. "I just bought these clothes!"

The polar bear pulled the trigger once more, this time aiming only at his head. The bullets ricocheted into his golden skin, and once more, he was force to turn his head and cover his head with his arm. However, it was more out of instinct than out of any fear for harm or any actual pain.

The bear continued to shot him, until he ran out of bullets. He continued to press the trigger, though, even if it was completely empty, and Pollard lowered his arm, and looked at him with a sneer. He walked in his direction, and the polar bear threw the gun at him. It hit his head with a metallic sound, and it not affected him in the slightest, as he simply continued to walk in his direction.

"S-stay away! You can't do this!" The bear said as he looked at him with fear. "D-do you know who I work for!? Do you know what he will do to you!?"

"Are you threatening me?" Pollard asked him, as he continued to advance. "Are you fucking threatening me!?" He said as he grabbed the bear by his throat and lifted him from the ground. "You shot me, ruined my clothes, and now you are threatening me!? Do you got a fucking death wish!?"

The bear was fighting for breath as he was forced in the wall, and his windpipe felt like it was about to be crushed. "I-I work for Mr. Big…" He said, choking and fighting for breath. "He is a dangerous guy… He is powerful…"

"Powerful…" Pollard said. "Powerful." He said with a scoff, letting out a chuckle. "Look at me. I just fucking turned into metal!  _I_  am powerful!" He said, and the bear seemed about to pass out.

"Mr. Big… Controls Tundratown… He has several guys working… under him… he made… people just… disappear… He is… dangerous…"

"More than me?" Pollard asked, in a dangerously low voice. The polar bear did not answered, as his eyes seemed to be almost rolling to the back of his head. "Well, let's see about that…" He whispered in his ear, and then…

The foxes were hiding under their stand the whole time, and they could hear the whole thing. They could also hear a sickening sound of something being crush, followed by the sound of something big and heavy being drop into the snow-covered ground. There was only silence next, and then there was the sound of steps into the ground.

Next thing they knew, was that their stand was raised from the ground, and they gasped as they looked up, seeing the polar bear who had turned into metal looking down at them. He looked down, as the foxes looked up at him with fear in their eyes, hugging each other. After a few moments, the bear asked:

"Does any of you know where I can find this 'Mr. Big' guy?"

* * *

"It is official now." Ursini said, "We have every officer looking for this Pollard guy, and as soon as they see his shadow they will call for back up."

"It is for the best." Jeff said, "Approaching that guy without care could be dangerous to anyone."

"Still, we are searching for that guy." Nick said.

"Just doing our jobs." Judy said to her fox partner, and Ursini asked:

"Well, we still haven't decided what we will do once we actually find this guy. You said that he might be bulletproof, right?"

"If his body is as dense as it would be if he was made of solid brass, then he might be, to a certain point." Jeff said, and he soon added. "The best strategies would be approaching him an indirect attack, let's say, some gas bombs to make him choke, or something of the like."

"Or I could use my powers to shock him." Alex offered, and Jeff looked up at him. "I mean, if the guy is made of metal, than this should make electricity more effective, right?"

"I am not so sure about that…" Jeff said, and as he spoke that, suddenly someone called out for chief Ursini.

"Chief! Chief!" The arctic wolf police officer said, running in his direction. He was panting as he approached, and he seemed to be really anxious to talk to his chief.

"Woah. Calm down, young man. What is going on?"

The wolf took a few deep breaths to calm down, and he spoke. "Gunshots were heard in an area in the north of Tundratown. Two officers went in there to investigate, and they found out two polar bears in an alley. One of them was unconscious with minor injuries, but… the other one was dead."

Judy gasped as she covered her mouth, and Ursini looked back at him. "So, where they shot?"

"No, sir." The police officer said, and he continued. "A witness lives in a building in that area, and she saw from her window the bear who had been killed opening fire against a third polar bear. One that seemed to be made of gold!"

Everyone got into attention at this comment, and shared a look.

"Pollard." Jeff said, and the officer continued.

"She saw when he killed the polar bear who was shooting by crushing his neck." The wolf said, and this made Nick take a hand to his own neck and swallow a lump that had suddenly formed. That did  _not_  sounded like a nice way to go…

"Dammit." Ursini said, and Jeff and Alex could only share a look, as they now knew that Pollard had claimed at least one life. "Do we know who the victim was?" Ursini asked again, and the voice on the other end of the radio chimed:

"In fact, we do. The driver license found in the victim's wallet is in the name of Kevin Bernardino."

"What!? Kevin!?" Nick exclaimed surprised, and Judy had a look of surprise and even shock in her face. Alex looked at them.

"What?" The cougar asked, but he was ignored, and Ursini asked to the wolf.

"Are you sure?"

"They said that it looks like him."

"Dammit." Ursini said once more, and Alex looked lost.

"Guys, did you knew this Kevin?"

"He works… worked for Mr. Big." Nick admitted, still trying to process that the polar bear was murdered, and so was Judy.

"So, the guy was from the mafia?"

"He was a good guy." Nick said, "Considering…"

"Yeah, I gotta admit that." Ursini said, "His daughters are in the same school as my oldest son… I know his wife."

It was obvious that the situation was delicate, and both Alex and Jeff could notice it. Maybe it was because Jeff refrained himself from making any kind of commentary about the situation.

"What about the other polar bear? The one who was not killed?"

"Raymond Norcross. He is being taken to the hospital now."

"He also works for Mr. Big…" Ursini said, and he turned to the others, "First this guy causes some ruckus in a club that belongs to Mr. Big, and then he hurts one of his henchmen and then kills another? I'm the only one who seems a pattern in here?"

The other animals did not answered, and Ursini turned his attention to the two meta mammals. "It is possible that this bear has some kind of past with the Big family?"

He couldn't have, and that was something that both Alex and Jeff were sure. They just didn't knew who to explain that without raising a lot more questions.

"I find it very unlikely." Jeff said.

"Unlikely, but possible?" Ursini asked, and this time Jeff chose to remain in silence, he believed it would be better. Of course, this silence seemed to serve as Ursini's answer. "Well, I guess we will be making Mr. Big a little visit."

"I don't think there is the actual need." Jeff said, but he was ignored.

"Ursini, is this for the investigation?" Bogo said, slightly stepping into the polar bear's way, and Ursini just said.

"If Big is involved, than it surely has to do with the case." The way he talked it made the other animals share looks. It seemed… well, was quite clear, actually, that the polar bear and Mr. Big had some history in between them.

"After all, it is  _his_  establishment and  _his_  employees. Nothing more than we make a small visit to that rodent, even if it is just to ask him a few questions." The great polar bear didn't even waited for an answer as he simply walked in direction to his own cruiser. "You are welcome to come with me if you want!" He said to them as he entered his cruiser and started it. Bogo only sighed, and he said:

"Let's go."

The other animals soon were following him. Jeff and Alex would take a ride on his cruiser, while Nick and Judy would go into their own cruiser.

"This can be interesting." Jeff said.

"It can be complicated…" Alex said, "I mean, this Big guy really seems to be… wait a minute, did he said 'rodent'?"

* * *

"Where is Judy?" Fru Fru asked, as she stood right in front of her little girl, covering her eyes with her hands, right before removing them. "There she is!"

The little arctic shrew toddler giggled as she held her little hands to her mother, who laughed as she reach for her daughter and took her in her arms, all the while she was under the sights of other mammals around them.

The first one was an elderly arctic shrew wearing an elegant clothing. This one was no other than Mr. Big, and he had a soft smile on his lips as he watched his daughter play with his granddaughter. That brought him far away memories from when his own wife was playing with Fru Fru. May God guard her…

The other one was a big polar bear, who looked down with a neutral expression as he watched the smaller arctic shrews.

Finally, the third one was a raccoon.

She was around two feet high, and she had fur of a shade of rainy-gray, with the classical black mask in her face and her long, busy, black and white ringed tail. She was somewhat thin, and she had both hands at the table in which the shrews were. Well, she had  _one_  hand with black fur in the table, since her other arm did not had a hand, instead it what seemed to be a mechanical claw, which replaced her obviously lost left hand. Her eyes were both of a grayish shade of green, and she had a smile on her lips. She wore a white shirt and a sea-green skirt.

"Thank you for watching her while I was hanging out with my friends, Nora." Fru Fru said to the raccoon girl, who smiled at her.

"It was nothing." She said, and this time it was Mr. Big's turn to talk.

"Still, you do it better than any of my boys could, Ms. Ringwald." Mr. Big said to the raccoon, who looked at him as he continued "I have to admit, I really had some concerns about trusting my granddaughter to a… stranger, but still, it seems that little Judy really likes you, and you are really competent in it."

The raccoon felt her cheeks heating under her fur, as she scratched the back of her head. "Well, I do have experience in dealing with little ones… Even though I had never babysat an arctic shrew before. I was kind of afraid of screwing it up, but it ended up being easier than I thought it would be. Even though changing the diapers is a little tricky…"

"Really, thank you, it was really nice of you." Fru Fru said, and the raccoon girl couldn't help but blush a little bit more, she really hoped that the fur on her face was helping hide it.

"Well, I'm glad that I could help." She said, "After all, I guess it is the least I could do after you took me in and cared for me in the last week."

"Oh, that was nothing."

"No, seriously." The raccoon said as she looked at Fru Fru, at the big polar bear, and mainly at Mr. Big. "It was really generous of you taking a complete stranger into your house and caring for her. I don't know what I would have done if you guys hadn't found me. I really owe you one."

Once more, it was obvious that the raccoon was not from the area, for if she was, she would know that she should not say something like that so lightly when she was talking with someone like Mr. Big. After all, in the kind of world in which he lived and worked every day, owing something to someone was saw as something serious.

They were about to say something else, when a sound caught their attention.

"What is that?" The raccoon girl asked, and the others listened carefully, and it seemed that there was a fight going on, and right next, there was the sound of gunshots, which startled Fru Fru, making her hug her little girl. The polar bear, Koslov, stood in attention, and his muscles tensed, as if he was ready for a fight.

However, soon after a little more sounds of fighting, there was silence. A long silence…

Right after, there was a knock in the door, and no one moved or said anything. Koslov even curled his lips as he snarled at the door, and right after that came a voice.

"B-boss? Are you there?"

Mr. Big and Koslov shared a look, as they both recognized that voice, and the polar bear turned to the door, and called: "What is going on in there?"

"There is a guy in here who wants to see Mr. Big." The bear in the other end said, and there was a pause. "H-he is kind of insisting."

"How many of them?"

"Just one! But he is one of those 'meta-mammals'! He took everyone else out!"

There was a heavy silence as the animals in the room shared a look, and Koslov looked to his boss, waiting for directions. The small arctic shrew looked at him, and sighed. "Tell him to come in."

"Are you alone in there?" Koslov said to the door, and the voice on the other end said:

"Yes! The guy is in the main office, and he says he won't leave until he sees Mr. Big!"

"Come inside!"

The door opened, and another polar bear entered. He looked to be scared out of his mind, and almost to the point of starting to cry. He approached, and Mr. Big looked up at him.

"Now, listen very carefully." The shrew said, "You will take my daughter and granddaughter out of this building and to somewhere safe. Koslov, you and I are going to see what this visitor wants."

"Daddy! This is dangerous!" Fru Fru said, and Mr. Big only looked back at her.

"I know, but you know me. I deal with my business myself whenever I need, and now I clearly need." He said, and he looked back at Koslov, nodding, and the polar bear nodded back, right before reaching out and placing the small shrew in his big, furred hand. "You and I are going to see this through. The rest of you leave." He said, and there was a silence, before Koslov spoke:

"You heard the boss! Now get going!" He spoke to the other, smaller polar bear, who soon nodded, and he was picking up Fru Fru and Judy in his own hand, being really careful, since he was not used to something like that.

"Daddy!"

"I'll be fine, sweetheart. I'll be meeting with you as soon as I have this settled down." The older shrew said, and with that, the two polar bears went in opposite directions, with Koslov walking to the same door that the other bear had just came through, in direction to the main office. The bear who had Fru Fru and little Judy was walking in direction to another door, which lead to a path that was an emergency exit, which had been put in there years back as a way of ensuring a safe getaway in case of an ambush or an attack.

Meanwhile, the raccoon was left in the middle of the room, apparently forgotten. It seemed clear that this was something that wasn't of her concern or business, so she should either go with Fru Fru and her security, or find her own way out of the situation. However, she only looked to the door by which Mr. Big and Koslov had just went out through…

* * *

 _Wow… this Big guy surely owns a lot of money._  Was the though in Pollard's mind as he looked at the fancy office he was in. Nicely furnished, and it looked like it was the place that a businessman would have. Looking over, he could see the other two polar bears pointing at him with guns, and they seemed ready to pull the trigger if he made any sudden moves.

Pollard bared his fangs at them, causing them to jump back as they continued to point their guns at him. He chuckled to himself. These guys seemed like the classical thugs, and this, combined with the seemingly wealth that he had, and the fact that people in the streets seemed to be deadly afraid of him, made it very clear to Pollard just what kind of business Mr. Big was involved into, everything about him seemed to make it clear.

He just didn't knew why he had a picture of an old rat woman on a shelve with frozen flowers and candles lit…

"So, how much Big pays you?" Pollard asked to the two polar bears, who continued to point their guns at him. He then had his body turn into brass, acquiring the same golden, metallic shine that he had when he put down the other thugs that tried to stop him from going inside. The other polar bears took another step back when they saw it, as Pollard asked, "He pays you enough for  _this_?"

The bears didn't answered, and they didn't actually had time for, once the door opened, and Pollard's eyes turned to it. He saw a polar bear walking in, one that was so big that he actually had to crouch to be able to pass by the door. That polar bear had gotten to be the biggest one that Pollard had ever seen, and the look in his face made it clear that he was not up to kidding. That look didn't faltered even when he saw the golden bear in front of him, actually, he just seemed to scoff slightly.

Pollard looked at him as he walked in, and he had a smirk in his face. He asked, with his metallic voice: "So, I assume you are the famous Mr. Big, no?"

The bear looked at him for a few moments, and he put in front of him his own open palm, and in there, Pollard could see something standing.

"So, what is it that you want?" The small rodent in the polar bear's hand asked to Pollard, who just stared back at him for a few moments, before asking:

"What is that now?" He said, his gaze shifting from the big polar bear to the small rat in his hand. "What, are you the spokesman? Big doesn't speaks my language, or he don't like to talk to others?"

The rodent looked up at him, and he said, "You are not from here, are you?"

"Look, I made myself come here and fight some of these thugs to have a word with Mr. Big, and I'm, not going to accept him simply to refuse to talk to me." The polar bear said, his arms crossing in front of his chest.

" _I_  am Mr. Big."

Pollard looked at him, and he scoffed, "Right, and I'm Miss Animal Kingdom."

"It is truth." The polar bear said, finally raising his voice, making Pollard looking at him. "The mammal you are talking with is Alfonso Big, the most important mammal of this part of Zootopia."

"What…" Pollard said, and he looked at the rodent, which could comfortably fit into his own pocket. "What!? Then, who are...?"

"Koslov is my bodyguard and my right hand man. He has been with me for years, and he is of my entire trust." Big said, and Pollard could only stare at the small rodent that was presented to him.

THAT was the guy that everyone seemed to be so afraid of!?

Pollard just stared at him, and soon, a smirk formed in his lips, and he soon started to snicker. Soon it turned into a chuckling, right before he burst into laughter. Pollard was using his hands to support himself on his knees, while he was not using one of them to point at the diminutive crime boss, and he was laughing so hard that he was actually having problems to breathe.

Very few mammals would be brave or stupid enough to laugh at Mr. Big, that was what made the two polar bears in there look at him as if he was insane, and Koslov himself snarl at him. Big, however, only remained impassive as he watched that polar bear laugh as if he had just heard the funniest thing ever.

It took nearly two minutes, but Pollard was eventually able to calm down and look at the small rodent, but he still was snickering.

"So… you came all the way here and invaded my residence just to laugh at me?" Big asked, his seeming calm tone not letting out just how pissed off he was.

"I-I came (snickers)… I came to take a look in this Mr. Big guy, who everyone was said to be dangerous. I wanted to look the fella in the eyes and see if he really was serious business." He said, being able to regain some of his composure, and he was still looking down at the small rodent. "I was expecting something different… but it was nice to have a good laugh." He said with a smirk, not noticing the twitch in the cheek of the small rodent.

"Well, I was actually thinking about maybe even offering my services for such a guy, if he really was hardcore enough, but you know what, I'm not going to work for bite-sized project of criminal." Pollard said, "I have some standards." He said, and turned around, getting ready to leave, when Koslov pulled his own gun and pointed it at him. Pollard turned to look at him, and he asked:

"What?"

"You think you can just insult Alfonso Big and walk away?"

"… yeah." Pollard said, Koslov triggered the gun, and he was ready to shot, but the golden polar bear only scoffed, and turned around to leave, and that was when Koslov pulled the trigger.

The sound of a gunshot filled the air and immediately followed by the sound of metal hitting metal, as the bullet ricocheted from Pollard's head and hit one of the walls. The golden polar bear recoiled slightly, and he turned his head to look at Koslov, who was only looking back at him.

Pollard grunted, and he turned to Koslov, snatching the gun from his hand fearlessly, and crushing it in his own claw. There was a silence in the room, and Pollard turned around to look at the two polar bears who were left, and he saw them both looking at him.

"Booo!"

The two polar bears immediately yelped and dropped their guns, turning around to run. This left Pollard alone with Koslov and Big, and he turned around as he looked at the polar bear, but mainly, at the small rodent that he was holding safely in his hand.

"You should fire those two." Pollard said, as he turned back into his regular form, and started to walk in direction to Koslov. The polar bear grunted as he moved his hand with Mr. Big closer to his body, his other hand in front of his body, as if he was ready to fight. As Pollard walked in his direction, he gave a few steps back, and the other polar bear chuckled.

"You should have let me go when you had the chance." He said, and he seemed to be getting ready to fight, when suddenly a voice said.

"Stay away from them!"

All eyes turned to the source of the voice, which was a small raccoon with just one hand. Nora stood in the door, looking fiercely at the polar bear who was threatening both Koslov and Mr. Big, and she did not looked like she was going to just ignore it and walk away.

"Ringwald?" Koslov asked, and Pollard only looked at her.

"What is that now?"

Nora looked at him, and in her right hand, the only one she had, she was holding what seemed to be a shock baton, and the light in it was telling that it was on, and at a high voltage. "Move away from them right now." She said again, slowly, as if she was giving to the much bigger mammal a fair warning.

Pollard just looked at her, and he chuckled, "Oh, bringing out the short girls now? This is cowardice." He said in a playful way, and he turned to the raccoon girl. "What, will you be using that in me? I'd like to see you try." He said with a smirk in his face.

"Last warning." She said, and she seemed to be ready to pounce. "Move. Away. From them. Now."

Pollard didn't knew if he should laugh at the raccoon, or feel sorry for the poor little thing. Still, he knew that he was not going to let that small mammal intimidate him. He gave a single step in her direction, and he raised his hand, which turned into the golden metal, and he said, in a tune of challenge. "Make me."

Nora looked back at him, and she gave a single step forward and…

Disappeared.

This left the other animals confused.

"What the-" Pollard said, but his phrase turned into a startled cry as he felt a sudden jolt of electricity running up his leg, making him buckle and fall to his knee.

Koslov and Big both were as surprised as Pollard when the raccoon girl just disappeared, but their attention soon was called back at Pollard when he cried out. They turned their heads in his direction just in time to see him fall on one knee, and they could also see Nora standing right behind him, with the shock baton in her hand.

Pollard, on his own end, immediately turned around, and he saw the raccoon girl behind him, however, before he could do anything, she disappeared… and reappeared right by his opposite side, and thrust the shock baton right on his knee.

Pollard cried out once more as his other knee gave up on him, making him fall to his side. Nora immediately stepped back as the polar bear rolled over, and thrust the shock baton right on his back, making him cry out. Instinctively, the polar bear swung his arm, aiming to hit her, but he only hit the ground. She had vanished once more.

The other two mammals watched that with wide eyes, while Pollard fought to get back on his feet, and he looked around in the room. He was able to sight the raccoon girl once more, and she was around ten feet away from him, on the other side of the room. There was no way she was able to run to there so fast!

"You…" He snarled as he got up, and he seemed to be getting ready to walk to her, when she suddenly vanished once more. She reappeared a split second later right at Pollard's feet, and this time she thrust the shock baton on his inner thigh, making him cry out and nearly topple, she vanished and reappeared again right behind him, placing the shock baton on his buttocks, making him cry out as he arched his back. Right in this moment, she turned around and gave a little jump as she vanished, and reappeared again right in front of Pollard, landing on his chest and taking a hold of his jacket. She thrust the shock device right on his neck, making him cry out in surprise and fall to the ground again, just as Nora vanished from his chest.

He twitched slightly in the ground as he panted, and he tried to make sense of what was happening there. That was when he saw the raccoon girl reappear, this time really close to his face, and he could see as she raised the baton and was ready to thrust it into his head. This time he was able to react, and he did that by turning his own head into brass right in the moment that she forced the electrified tip of the baton on his temple. The thing only buzzed with electricity, but without making him any damage.

Right after that, he grabbed Nora with his hand, which had also turned into brass, along with the rest of him. "Enough of that!" He said as he made a sudden move, propelling Nora away from him, making her land near the desk of that office, while her weapon landed far from her.

Now it was Nora's turn to be disoriented, while Pollard got up and quickly closed the distance between them. Nora was able to recover right in time to see a great golden foot right above her, ready to crush her to death. Right as that foot came down, Nora once more vanished, and the foot only went across the wood of the floor and into the solid rock beneath.

Koslov and Big had been watching the thing, and even the polar bear, who was normally so stoic, looked baffled by what he was seeing. They had a moment of panic when they saw Pollard stomping and heard the sound of the floor breaking under his foot, but they both felt some of a relief as they saw that the raccoon was no longer there.

They heard the sound of panting near then, and they looked to the side to see Nora, who had reappeared right next to them, and was getting up, a bit shaken. "R-Ringwald…" Koslov said, getting on one knee. "Y-you… A-are you okay?" He said, reaching out for her with his clawed paw, the one that was not holding Big.

Pollard looked around, he saw the raccoon near the bear and the rat, and he grunted to himself. He pulled his own foot free from the ground, and he immediately picked up the desk, raising it above his head as he turned to the three animals, and he was ready to throw it at them.

Nora saw this, and just as Pollard threw the desk at them, she grabbed Koslov's hand in instinct, and they all vanished in a blur. The desk moved past the point they all were, and hit the wall, breaking, as Pollard was left, looking and not seeing his intendent targets…

* * *

"So, think Mr. Big will be happy for seeing us?" Nick asked Judy, as they both were now very close to the Big Manor, and they soon were able to sight the cruisers of the two chiefs ahead of them. The animals had already got out of their vehicles, and they were standing next to them.

As Judy and Nick parked their cruiser, they noticed that there was something amiss in the manor. Starting with the fact that there were two of Mr. Big's polar bears fallen in the entrance.

Judy and Nick shared look before they got out of their vehicle and rushed to the other animals, who were all looking at the entrance of the manor, worried. By getting closer, Nick and Judy could notice that the door was broke down.

"Something happened here." Ursini said, "Be ready, everyone." He spoke as he pulled out a gun.

The other animals followed his example, with Bogo pulling out his own gun, while Nick and Judy pulled out their dart guns. Alex was not armed, but he kept holding Jeff with one hand, while the other was left free, and formed a spherical lightning in it.

They carefully approached the busted doors, and by doing that they can closer to the fallen bears, who they were thankful to see that were not dead, but just unconscious and bruised. Once they walked inside, they found out a few more bears fallen to the ground, scattered like broken toys.

"What happened here?" Bogo asked.

"I'll take a guess and say that someone decided to come see Mr. Big before we did." Jeff said. While this Judy's ear perked as she was able to pick up a sound coming from upstairs. She looked in there, and she was approaching the nearest stairs, when suddenly Ursini cried out.

"What the hell!?"

In the middle of the main hall, something had just materialized in front of them; startling the officers and Alex and making them point their weapons to that which had materialized. They took a moment to see that it was someone.

Koslov stepped back, as he could feel his head spinning as he had arrived… wherever it was. There were animals pointing guns at him, and he had to blink to clear his vision, and see that they were wearing police uniforms. On his hand, Mr. Big was not much better, using all his four limbs to support himself as his stomach seemed to be making backflips.

Meanwhile, another small mammal was in there, in the moment that she saw the animals pointing guns at her, she immediately got in fighting stance, and she seemed to be ready to fight them. Of course, the other animals eventually looked at her too as she made an angry raccoon sound, including Alex.

In the moment the cougar looked down at her, something clicked in his mind. If he had any doubt whatsoever about her face, he just needed to look at the mechanic claw in the place of her missing hand to be sure…

"Nora!?" Alex said, dropping his hand and looking straight at the raccoon, who looked back at him for a moment, her expression of anger turning into one of surprise.

"Alex!?"

 

 

 

 

 

 


	15. How a Mouse Brings Down a Polar Bear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Alex reunites with a friend, they see themselves forced to face a dangerous mammal. Luckily for them, Jeff knows what to do.

There were some things that Alex was expecting in the moment when he walked in, however, one thing that he did not expected was to find a familiar face in there (which was now furry). More precisely, he didn’t expected to find Nora in there.

They looked at each other with wide eyes for a moment, before the raccoon girl spoke: “What are you doing here?”

“What are _you_ doing here?” Alex questioned back, and soon after, someone else spoke.

“You two know each other?” It was Nick, and Alex looked back at him, for a moment, he had forgotten that there were other animals in there besides them.

“And who are you?” Nora asked.

“We ask the questions!” Chief Ursini said, and he turned to the polar bear who had Big in his hand. “What the hell happened here?” He demanded, and Koslov, who had already recovered, was looking back at the other polar bear, and he said:

“I would ask you the same thing.”

In his hands, Mr. Big had already recovered as well, and he looked around, seeing the broken doors and his henchmen scattered in the ground like broken toys. It was hard to believe that a single mammal had been able to do that…

“Don’t you play games with me!” Ursini said, “I’m not buying this crap!”

“What are you doing here, in first place?” Big asked, looking back at the polar bear, who shot him a glance.

“We were coming to ask you some questions regarding the events in Iceberg Club.” Judy said, aiming to break the tension that was clearly growing in between the two mammals. “We arrived and saw the door broken, and so we came to investigate, and that was when you… appeared out of nothing.”

Big looked at her, and right after, Nick asked: “How did you even do that?”

“Actually, I’m not sure myself…” Big said, and he said, “First that polar bear invaded my office and tried to attack us, and the next thing I know was that Nora was standing up to him.” He said, and the raccoon girl looked back at them. “She was able to bring him down, and suddenly we are here…”

Ursini and Bogo both shared a look, and the two smaller mammals looked at the raccoon. Did she really stood up to that polar bear, and could actually bring him down? All by herself?

“Hi…” Nora said, waving her good hand at them. Alex once more spoke:

“Nora, what are you doing in here?”

“It’s a long story…” She said, and someone asked again:

“So, it is to be assumed that you two know each other?” Nick asked.

“Yeah, Nora is one of my friends.” Alex said, “The ones I told you guys about.”

“So, is she a meta mammal too?” Bogo asked, and the answer came as a small voice from Alex’s hand.

“Indeed, she is.” This surprised Nora, who looked at Alex’s hand, for the first time noticing that he too, like Koslov, had a small mammal in his paw. She took a good look at him, and from a distance, she could notice something familiar in him…

However, she didn’t had much time to dwell on it, for in that moment a loud voice came: “There you are!” Everyone turned their heads to see the polar bear on top of the stairs, looking down at the ones in there. He didn’t needed effort to recognize the one-handed raccoon and the polar bear in suit.

He had just walked out of that office once he realized that they were not there anymore, and he was lucky to find them on his way out. He still wanted to get back at the little raccoon for what she did to him.

“ZPD! Hold it right there!” Bogo said, pointing his gun at Pollard, along with the others. However, the polar bear barely even minded him. Instead, he just snarled as his body once more turned into brass, and he jumped from the floor he was in, landing heavily in the ground bellow and cracking the wood floor beneath his feet.

“Hold it right there!” Bogo said again, but Pollard ignored him, and instead, he was looking at the raccoon girl.

“Now, where were we?” he asked in a metallic voice as he started to walk in her direction, in that moment, the officers started to open fire, but this had little effect on him, once the bullets ricocheted from his body and the darts broke as soon as they hit his skin. If anything, this only made him slow down for a bit, as some of the bullets hit his face, and made him turn his head around. It was a reflex that it was nearly impossible to get rid of, but still, they caused no damage to the polar bear, only managing to annoy him.

“Well, now is my turn.” Alex said to Jeff, in his hands, and he rushed to the polar bear in suit and placed Jeff in his hands. “Can you hold him please?” He asked, and left him in there as he rushed into action. Meanwhile, Koslov looked surprised at Jeff, as well as Mr. Big, and Jeff only looked back at the arctic shrew, and he said:

“Hi.”

“Hey, golden butt!” Alex said, and this was enough for Pollard to look at him, and as he looked at that cougar, who looked back at him, before making his paws light up with spheres of lightning. He simply scoffed, and cracked his metallic knuckles, as he was ready to break the bones of that cat who was standing on his way.

As he gave a single step forward, Alex put his arm forward, and from his paw shot a lightning that hit the polar bear in the chest. The polar bear gave a single step backwards, as that lightning surprised him, but he was still standing. It seemed that the lightning had caused little to no damage to him.

However, it managed to burn a hole in his shirt. The bear looked at it, and let out an annoyed grunt as he turned his head back to the cougar. Alex then stretched his arm again and let out a new lightning, this one even more charged, and it hit the polar bear square in the chest, and he retreated another step.

However, he suffered nothing, and he only looked angrier than before.

“I don’t think it is working.” Nick said, and Alex turned to them.

“Go outside, I’ll take care of him!”

“But…”

“Now!” Alex said, and this time, the others obeyed, and they were rushing outside. Pollard snarled, and he started to walk to them once more, but this time Alex thrust both of his paws forward, and the lightnings from them combined on the air and turned into a single lightning, and this one hit Pollard square in the chest.

The golden polar bear actually flinched this time, and he gave two steps back, as he seemed to be steeling himself to be able to handle the attack. The stream of lightning continued for around ten seconds, before Alex finally stopped, and he was looking at the bear in front of him.

Pollard was taking a few deep breaths, and the shirt he was wearing had a huge hole burnt through it, letting Alex see his golden chest. The bear, however, didn’t seemed to have suffered any significant damage, and after a few seconds, he opened his golden eyes and looked at Alex.

“Ouch…” He said, rather casually, as he looked at Alex, before started to walk on his direction.

* * *

“Okay, I want someone to tell me what is going on!” Ursini said, and he was directing his attention to both Koslov and, mainly, Big himself. “Now, how do you know that bear?”

“I don’t!” Big said, and Ursini looked back at him.

“Don’t come with this crap to me! The guy attacked one of your clubs! Attacked two of your employers! He came right at your house and broke in!” Ursini said, “And now he is trying to get at all of us! So start spilling the beans! What, he is a former employee? An associate who got mad at you?”

As he said that, the mammals all were taking cover behind the cruisers, as lights were coming out of the building.

“What is your connection with that bear?” Ursini demanded.

“I don’t know him!” Big said to him, now feed up of this. “I never saw him before today when he invaded my home, attacked my securities and tried to kill me and my right-hand mammal!” He said that, and Koslov agreed with him. Ursini seemed about to reply, when suddenly a sound attracted their attention.

Alex had just been threw out of the window, breaking it as he landed in the snow-covered front, this helped ease his fall a bit, allowing him not to get so much damage from it. However, he was sure that there were some bruises forming under his fur. He was able to get up a bit, when Pollard himself crossed the window, breaking a part of the brick wall on his way out, and landing heavily in the snow-covered yard. He looked pissed as he walked in direction to Alex, who was still trying to get up.

“Sweet cheese and crackers!” Judy said as she saw that, and the polar bear continued to walk in direction to Alex. She immediately went to action, and pointed her dart gun to him. “ZPD! Freeze!” She said, but Pollard ignored her.

She pulled the trigger, and the darts flew from her gun and broke in contact with the polar bear. He stopped for a moment and looked at her with his golden eyes. He snarled at her, and he seemed to be about to got to her direction, when another lightning hit him in the stomach.

He looked back at Alex, and he bared his fangs at him as he turned back at him. However, in that moment, Nora, who had been watching, jumped into action. She disappeared from where she was standing, and reappeared in another part. She picked up a small pebble from the ground, and threw it the hardest that she could at Pollard’s face.

The bear turned to look at her, and he snarled. “You!”

She immediately disappeared, and she reappeared in front of Alex, who looked surprised at her. “Alex!” She said, stretching her paw at him, and Alex took only one second to realize what she wanted, and when Pollard turned back at their direction, Alex saw himself instinctively reaching out for her hand, and when he was holding it, both of them disappeared.

They reappeared less than a second later, next to the others behind the cruisers.

“Hey!”

“What the-!”                                                                                  

The two meta mammals were in there, and Alex was panting lightly, while Nora seemed to be around the same. “We need to get out of here, now!” She said, and the others seemed to agree with her, as the polar bear let out a guttural roar as he looked at all sides, looking for his targets.

“We need to go, now!” She said, and Jeff, who was in Koslov’s hands with Big agreed:

“Indeed, I think now is time for a strategic get away.”

“Are you kidding!” Ursini said, “We cannot let him run away! We need to hold him here until the backup arrives!”

Chief Ursini had a point, and Jeff was forced to agree with him. Even if the current situation was unfavorable, they could not allow Pollard to simply escape and go on his own devises. They needed a new plan, and Jeff took only a few seconds to be able to come up with one.

“The Thaw is close to here, right?” Jeff asked to the mammals around him, and they looked at him. "It is close, right?”

“Around five blocks away, why?” Ursini asked, wondering why the mouse had brought that up suddenly in such a situation.

However, Jeff didn’t answered the polar bear, instead turning to Alex, and calling out. “Hey, Alex, how do you think about maybe running a bit?”

“Huh?”

“Do you feel like you can run? Because I’m sure that a cougar is way faster than a polar bear.”

“So, do you want him to run while we stay here fighting the polar bear?” Bogo asked.

“No, I want him to chase Alex to The Thaw.” Jeff said, and as he spoke, “Nora, you should come too! You might be useful!” He said that, and Nora looked at him, and this time, she was able to get a better look at the mouse, and she recognized him.

“Wha- Jeff!?” She said, and Jeff immediately cut her off.

“We don’t have time, the three of us need to run!” He said, and Alex looked at him, and suddenly a roar caught their attention, as the polar bear looked around. He soon had his attention turned to the group that he could see (Alex and Nora were low and hidden by the cruisers). He snarled and started to walk in their direction.

“Now, guys!” Jeff said, and Alex finally understood, he got up and rushed there to pick Jeff back.

“Excuse me!” He said to Koslov, and Jeff said to the officers:

“Tell all unities to go to The Thaw! Nora, let’s go!”

The raccoon took a few moments to snap out of the shock of seeing her friend Jeff as a mouse, and she soon was running along with Alex.

“Hey! Golden butt!” Alex cried out and Pollard looked at them, “I bet you are so proud of being a big and strong polar bear, but you cannot win from a small little raccoon girl and a cougar!” Alex said, as he and Nora started to run. Pollard looked at them, and he snarled, he immediately ignored the cops and started to run after these two animals, aiming only to reach them and make them pay.

Meanwhile, the other animals were left in a stunned silence as they looked the golden polar bear run after the other meta mammals. The silence lasted for a few moments, before Nick said:

“Now what?” He looked at the others. “We do as Small said?”

There is a silence, and after a while, Judy said, “I think we should.” The others looked at her, “I mean, it seems that he has a plan, and they are putting themselves in danger, don't you agree?”

There was a moment of silence, and soon, Ursini was picking up the radio. “This is Ursini for Tundratown ZPD central! We need all of our available officers to head for The Thaw Club, the suspect named Pollard is heading that way. Be ready and bring out tear gas bombs and net launchers. And don’t take too long, we might have some mammals in danger!”

As he said that, all of the eyes were looking at the direction where the meta mammals had ran.

* * *

Alex ran as he was holding Jeff in one hand, and meanwhile, they passed by some mammals who were surprised by seeing them running like that.

“Clear the way!” Alex screamed as he was passing, and right close to him, Nora was passing as she ran the best her legs could carry her. However, she was not really fast, that was why, at some point, Alex picked her up and put her on his shoulder as he carried Jeff on his hand. “Everyone clear passage! Runaway cougar coming through!”

The mammals in the street were surprised for seeing a cougar running, and even more for seeing a golden and angry polar bear running right after him. They were quick to get out of the way as soon as they noticed Alex, and if they took too long, they got out of the way as soon as they saw the angry polar bear rushing after him.

Alex was running the best that he could, and that was much, considering that he was a cougar. Still, it was being hard to run from Pollard, who was surprisingly fast for a polar bear, considering the short legs that he had, he was still able to keep up with Alex, who was panting as he ran, his breath creating a small fog in front of his face as he continued to run.

Jeff had climbed up his arm and into his shoulder, and he was looking at the bear made of golden metal that was running after them. “He is faster than I thought…”

“Yeah, I noticed!” Alex said as he continued to run.

“Is that really you, Jeff?” Nora asked, and Jeff looked back at her.

“Yeah, I know you are in quite a shock, believe me, I was too in the first twenty minutes.”

“Sorry, we are still running from a mad bear who wants to maul us!” Alex said, and he continued to run. Pollard was running after him, and he seemed to be determined to catch him.

“Where I’m even running to?” Alex asked.

“The Thaw.” Jeff said, “It is a very famous club here in Tundratown.”

“Why are we going there?” Nora asked, and Jeff said:

“There is something that might be useful.” Jeff said, and he looked around. He tried to remember what he had seen in the internet about the Thaw, and he was able to remember the address. He remembered the street that he had seen in the map of the streets of Tundratown, and he soon saw a familiar name in one of the streets in a street corner, and he quickly pointed to Alex. “Turn in here!”

Alex obeyed, and was able to make a surprisingly swift turn as he skidded just a little in the snow and frost of the street corner as he started to run in another direction, and Pollard was still right behind him.

“Alex, had you always been that fast?” Nora asked

“I think it came with the fur and tail.” Alex said as he continued to run, trying to open distance from the angry polar bear chasing him.

After two more minutes, Alex made a turn into a corner, and he saw himself into something that was a much more open street. Many mammals were walking into the sidewalks, and there was a river with pieces of ice floating in it, as if it was a frozen river in winter, and Alex could see a bridge connecting the two different sides of the river.

“Now, go straight ahead! It should be somewhere in front!” Jeff said, nearly screaming at Alex, and the cougar could do nothing but run in the direction the mouse pointed. Of course, he would have continued to run anyway, once Pollard was still running after him and snarling loudly. A sound that was somewhere between the natural snarling sound of an angry bear to a metallic sound that resembled a sound that would come from a creature from science fiction movies.

Alex run past the mammals who were on his way, all of which stepped out of the way of the running cougar, and they would truly run out of the way once they saw the golden polar bear running after him. The ones who were not smart or fast enough to get out of the way would be trampled by the bear, being throw violently to the sides or even flipped over the running bear as if they were hit by a car.

Alex was feeling a bit tired from that running, but he was still trying to open distance. Alex had no idea of what “The Thaw” was, or why Jeff wanted them to go in there, but he hoped that they would get in there soon, for he knew that he could not keep running forever.

Luckily for him, it seemed that some god had heard him, for soon Jeffrey was saying:

“There it is!” The mouse was pointing to a place that was something really big. It was another building, and it was big and somewhat imposing. It seemed to be either covered or made from ice and snow, giving it a round appearance, and it had fancy windows in it, as one would expect from a very fancy place where others would go. In the upper part of the place, in a sign of what seemed to be neon letterings, the name “The Thaw” stood proudly.

“This is where we need to go! Put all the strength you have in your legs now, Alexander! Run like the wind!”

Alex was more than eager to comply. He put all the strength he still had in running, and he was surprised by how much it actually was, and he was able to dash forward in a very good speed, while Pollard was right behind him, and the polar bear was snarling as he ran, his breath creating a fog in the cold air as he did so. His short legs did not allow him to run with all of his speed, and the cougar was able to leave him behind as he sprint into running.

The polar bear nearly roared in anger, as his body projected forward, as if he was trying to lean on to propel his body forwards at a faster pace. However, if that was what he was actually doing, soon it became more than just that. The polar bear leaned forward until his body fell, and he soon was on all four legs, much like a feral bear. Now he was running like that right behind Alex, much like a polar bear from the human world, if these had a smooth surface for their skin that was colored just like gold.

“Come back here, you pests!” Pollard roared to them as he ran after them like a feral bear. “Come here so I can break your bones!”

The sight of that bear running around like a savage and who seemed to be made from metallic material was enough to make most of the mammals in the street to run away in fear, afraid of maybe ending as the target of that crazy and dangerous bear. Now that he was on all fours, what now seemed nearly _too_ natural to him, Pollard discovered he could actually move around faster, with his arms, longer than his legs, helping project his body forward.

“Guys, he is coming closer!” Nora said.

“Them give us some advantage!” Jeff said to her. “Three Hundred feet forward! Right in front of the building! Quick!”

Nora understood what he meant, and she immediately put herself to work. She hugged Alex’s shoulder, and soon, they vanished in thin air.

Pollard blinked as he looked around, stopping as he panted, still high from the chase that he had been making. He looked all around, seeing scared animals running to all sides, most of them wanting to get far away from him. But he little minded them, for he was searching for a specific group of animals. He soon was able to see them, as his eyes sighted the cougar with the raccoon on his shoulder entering into a big building.

Pollard snarled at their direction in a metallic voice, teeth bared.

* * *

Alex was a bit disoriented when Nora teleported him right in front of the Thaw, and he needed a few seconds to recover his direction. Of course, as soon as he was able to figure out where and how, he was immediately entering the place that Jeff had indicated. Mostly because the mouse was _really_ insisting for him to go through the doors at once.

The double door was big and fancy, and it was obviously made having big animals in mind. Once inside, Alex noticed that the place was indeed fancy. It was a big place with a lot of tables and also with a big space in the middle that surely was made for dancing, and there was also places in the second floor that surely had more tables. It looked like the place was some kind of restaurant, and it was obviously a nice one, for it had a lot of mammals in there, who were either eating or dancing, and all from various species of tundra animals.

Alex was still panting as he looked around, and he looked at all the animals in there, and at the place itself, and he could hear the music playing from the boxes in the background. “What is this place?” The cougar asked, and Jeff was the one who answered:

“The Thaw. Said by some to be the best and most popular restaurant and club in all of Tundratown. It has been ranked with a medium of four and a half stars by most of the tourism agencies and websites that I visited in the past days, and said by some as one of the best places in the whole Zootopia, having all kinds of luxuries inside, including…” Jeff was looking at the sides, as if he was looking for something. In that moment, someone came to their sides.

“Hey, pal, are you lost?”

Alex nearly jumped when he looked to the side and saw a reindeer and a polar bear coming to him. They both were bulky, and the way that they were dressed told Alex that they probably were security staff in there. The reindeer was holding a clipboard in his hooved hand, and he was looking at the cougar with two animals on his shoulders.

“What would be your names?” The reindeer asked, and the polar bear continued to look at them. Alex was pretty sure that he did not looked like the regular people they had coming in there. Alex could not see himself, but he was sure that a cougar was who was panting, disheveled, with his fur ruffled, and maybe even covered in some dirty from the street was not the kind of people that used to come to their establishment.

“Oh, it’s okay, we are not on the list.” Jeff said, before Alex or Nora could come up with an excuse. “We just came in here because there is a polar bear made of brass chasing us.”

The polar bear and reindeer shared a look, and the polar bear said: “Okay, I think you all should be leaving now.”

Before anyone could say or do something, the sound of the doors being broken made them all turn their heads to the double doors. These had been broken, and Pollard was in there, still in his brass form, and staring daggers at the cougar and friends.

“Now I got you!” The polar bear said, and soon, the security polar bear was reacting.

“Hey, you, freeze!” He spoke, as he said, but Pollard continued to advance. “Hey, hey! Stay back! Freeze! I said freeze! Fuck!” He pulled out a shock gun, and pointed at him. He pulled the trigger, and the shockers flew from the gun and landed on his chest. However, they merely made a metallic *clink* as the shockers fell to the ground.

Pollard looked at it, and back at the polar bear who had attacked him, and he snarled as he walked in his direction.

“Attention, everyone! We have a problem in the entrance hall!” The reindeer said in a radio as he saw his polar bear companion being subdued by another bear, with a skin (or fur, whatever) was made of gold. Pollard soon was throwing the polar bear away, and now he had his eyes turned to Alex and co.

However, as he was about to reach them, Nora looked up, at one of the places in the second floor, and soon they all vanished.

“Oh, come on!” Pollard screamed aloud, and soon, all of the animals in there already knew that he was in there, including the security staff, who were all going on his direction to try to do something about him. Meanwhile, Alex and the others were now on the second floor, and Alex looked from the sidewalk to the place down there, where Pollard was being surrounded by securities, however, the polar bear didn’t seem fazed by them.

“Well, I guess they can take care of him now, right?” Nora asked.

“I don’t think so.” Jeff said, “Pollard seemed to have had little trouble to take care of Mr. Big’s henchmen. I guess it is to be assumed that he will also be able to handle them.”

“And my lightning does not affect him.” Alex added, “I sent him three in the stomach and he still kicked my butt. What do we do?”

“We try to use a different approach.” Jeff said, and he added, “I _know_ that the sites mentioned it a lot!”

“Mentioned what?” Alex asked.

Jeffrey stopped for a moment, and his ears twitched. He turned his head to a direction. “That!” Jeffrey pointed to a direction, and Nora looked over. She vanished from Alex’s shoulder and reappeared in another place, that was on the verge of the sidewalk in a place that Jeffrey had pointed.

Alex soon was following her, as she looked to what Jeffrey had seemingly pointed at. “They have a waterfall inside here?”

Alex looked, and he saw what she was talking about. It seemed that they had an internal waterfall in there, and it was plunging water into what seemed to be a pool made of stones. Alex could still spot some mammals in there, wearing swimming trunks and running from the place, scared by the commotion that was happening in there.

“That is what we came here for!” Jeff said, and Alex and Nora shared a look.

“We came here for a swimming pool?” Nora asked, looking at the animals who were getting out of the water.

“Actually it is a plunge pool.” Jeff said, “Specially made for the visitors, and the water is maintained at a temperature that is just above freezing.” Jeff said to his friends as he looked at the place. “And it seems to be deep in the area beneath the waterfall. That is really good.”

“Why is that good? What are going to do, Jeff?” Alex asked, confused, and Jeff turned to his feline friend and said, with a smile on his muzzle.

“We are going to use Pollard’s own powers against him.”

* * *

As they spoke, Pollard was having his way against the security staff that came after him. Each one of them attacked him with the weapons they had, which ranged from batons to shock guns and dart guns. Pollard, however, barely minded any of them, as his body made out of brass, solid and hard to damage, was able to shake off anything they made against him. The batons resonated on his body as they collided without making damage. The charges of the shock guns hit him but the electricity passed through his conductive body without causing him any discomfort. The darts broke in the moment they made contact with his skin without even scrapping it.

The security staff was unable to damage Pollard. However, the opposite, unfortunately, wasn’t true.

Pollard was able to fight back at any one of the security that came too close to him, by punching and backslapping them with his paws, and due to the hardness of the brass and the extra strength that this form gave him, he caused significant damage with each blow that he managed to hit. Each guard that he hit ended in the ground, and in some cases they got back up with a few teeth were loss and a few ribs were broken, and in some cases they just dropped and didn’t got back at all.

“I’m not in the mood for this!” Pollard said aloud, with the metallic voice, and the ones that were still standing, now scared, were keeping their distance from him. Some were still brave enough to come in his direction, but these were soon meet with the same fate of their buddies, and they ended unconscious in the ground, with blood leaking from their mouths.

Meanwhile, the ones who were in there as patrons watched the scene with fear, and many of them were dashing for the nearest exit as soon as they had a chance, wanting to open the biggest possible distance between themselves and that violent bear.

Luckily for them, Pollard was not too much interested in them, for he was looking around, trying to locate the mammals that he had been chasing. He had already figured out that the raccoon girl power was to teleport, and that meant that she had taken them somewhere else when he tried to get them. However, neither that would mean that he would give up chasing them.

However, he was unable to see them anywhere, and this made him angry.

However, he was distracted by his own anger when he heard someone’s voice through a megaphone.

“POLLARD! THIS IS THE TUNDRATOWN ZPD! THE BUILDING IS SURROUNDED! GET OUT WITH YOUR PAWS IN THE AIR!”

Pollard looked back, and he was quick to connect this with the guys he had been chasing.

The little shits! They lured him into a trap!

Roaring loudly in rage, Pollard saw the ones who still had not managed to leave the building, and he immediately jumped in them.

They cried out in fear, but some of them were unable to get away in time, and as a result, Pollard was able to grab a couple of snow leopards, and he was now holding them by the scruff of the back of their necks. The woman screamed as she squirmed on his grasp, while the male tried to fight back with his claws, only to break most of them in the moment he tried to claw at the polar bear’s face.

“You there!” The polar bear said to one of the other patrons. “Get your furry butt out there and tell the cops that I have hostages! If they try to get in I’ll skin them both alive!”

The patrons seemed to be ready to escape, and Pollard had to believe that they would do as he had asked, and he snarled at the two mammals that he had gotten on his hands, so to speak. They both were squirming, and they were screaming at him. This only worked to tick him off.

Above them, Alex had just gotten in the edge of the sidewalk, and he was looking down at the scene of the golden bear with two hostages.

“This is bad.” Alex said, and soon, Nora came next to him, with Jeff in her shoulder. Alex turned to them. “Jeff, are you sure this is going to work?”

The mouse on Nora’s shoulder remained two seconds in silence as he thought about it, before answering: “Around ninety-one point thirty-four percent.”

Alex looked at him, and back at the scene below. “Enough for me.” He spoke, and immediately, he climbed in the sidewalk and jumped down, surprising Nora.

Pollard was still trying to grip at the two mammals he had. “Okay, you two better stop, before I-” He was cut off by the lightnings that hit the ground near him, and soon, a cougar was floating down into the ground, with the electricity from his hands connecting him to the ground.

“You!” Pollard said, and Alex looked back at him, before saying.

“You were after me?” He asked him, with lightning in his paws. “Well, here I am. Will you try to use them as shield, or will you fight me like a man?”

Pollard snarled at him, pushing both animals he was holding to the sides, making them fall into the ground, while the polar bear outstretched his claws. He was ready to skin that cougar alive and take his pelt as a trophy to make a rug.

Upwards, Nora and Jeff were looking down at the scene, and Nora could not hold back a comment.

“Even becoming a cougar didn’t made Alex change, did it?”

“I don’t think anything ever will.” Jeff answered to her, and he was a bit thorn between worry and pride for his friend.

Suddenly, Pollard roared as he jumped in Alex direction, claws ready to rend and to kill his target.

Alex saw him coming, and pointed his paws at the ground, shooting a burst of lighting in the ground that propelled him upwards.

Pollard went right past the point where Alex once was, skidding in the ground and marking it with his feet and claws of metal. He turned around in time to see Alex landing in the ground, and turning to him, his hands outstretched and firing a wave of lightning on the golden bear.

Pollard instinctively covered his face with his arm as the lightnings swept over the area and over himself. The small strikes all around burnt holes on his clothing, but they seemed to have absolutely no effect on the bear. When it over, Pollard simply lowered his arm while he growled at the cougar.

“Okay then…” Alex said, and he continued to stare at the bear, who roared and charged at him.

Once more, Alex was able to dodge by using his electrokinesis to propel himself and to jump. However, this time, instead of jumping only straight up, he jumped to cover some distance. Pollard looked at him, and started to run after the cougar.

Around one minute, it was like that. Alex would ran or jump in order to gain some distance, and when he had a chance, he would shot a lightning at the polar bear to attack him. However, his attacks only succeeded into opening holes into the clothing that the polar bear wore and making him angrier.

“Will you stop running and fight me like a man!?” The polar bear roared in anger and frustration. All he wanted was to grab that cougar and break his bones!

Alex, however, was not willing to let that happen, and he actually was aiming to avoid Pollard getting him as much as he could, at least until he was able to put Jeff’s plan in action…

* * *

Outside of the club, the cars of the police of Tundratown were forming a circle around the Thaw. Mammals in police uniforms walked around the place, some of them seemed to be getting ready to enter the place, while others were more focused into keeping mammals and curious guys away from that place.

“What is going on?”

“It seems some of those mammals with super powers have broken into The Thaw!”

“The meta mammals?”

“Yeah, I heard the lightning cougar is one of them!”

“They are fighting now?”

“Man, I wish I was there to see it! I bet it is awesome!”

Among the officers in the place, were some familiar faces…

“I want everyone ready to enter on command!” Chief Ursini said to his subordinates. “I want everyone ready to fire the smoke bombs on command, and I want the net launchers ready! We can’t make mistakes with this guy!”

Near him, Bogo was watching the development of this, and close to him, were also the forms of Judy and Nick, relatively small when compared to the bigger species that formed most of the police force of Tundratown.

“Why did they wanted to come here?” Judy asked.

“Maybe because it has a delicious fish?” Nick offered, and Judy gave him a look that said that this was no time for jokes. Nick raised his hands defensively, and they both continued to look, as the officers around them were getting ready to fight.

“Sir, we have the teargas bombs ready!” A reindeer officer said to Ursini, who nodded at him.

“Good, get ready to fire them!”

* * *

Back inside, Pollard was furious at Alex, and was trying to reach him in any way that he could. Meanwhile, Alex continued to avoid his blows and to fire lightnings into him from a distance. It seemed that they could stay at this for a while, but Alex was starting to sweat at the effort.

After all, first the running like mad, and now trying to fight a guy who seemed that he never got tired? It was hard to keep up with this kind of thing.

As they fought, the sound of breaking glass reached them. Smoking objects had just broke through the windows, and they were liberating some smoke in the air.

One of them landed very close to Pollard, and the smoke soon was reaching for his face. The bear seemed fine in the first moments, but soon, he was chocking and gagging, and he immediately used his claw so swipe the smoke bomb away from himself.

Up in the sidewalks of the second floor, Nora and Jeff were still watching it, and Jeff pointed.

“You see!? You see that?” He was pointing at Pollard, who was still gagging even after the smoke bomb was away from himself.

“Yeah, I guess that smoke did a thing on him.”

“This means I was right! This is really good!”

“It is?”

“Yes!” Jeff said, looking at her with a smile. “For it means that my plan will most likely work!”

Pollard recovered from the gas of that bomb, and he now looked around as more bombs were breaking in through the windows. He snarled as he looked around, and he was now facing Alex once more.

Well, if he was going down, than he might as well take that cougar down with him!

Snarlng as he turned to the cougar, Pollard dashed at him, and once more, Alex was able to dodge by jumping with the help of his powers. However, this time he was not as fast as he would like, for Pollard was able to scrap Alex’s leg with his claws.

The cougar winced in pain as he raised in the air, and he soon was falling back on land, using his powers to break his fall. As he touched the ground, the sting on his legs was starting to become a burning pain, as a warm moist was spreading into him.

Looking down, Alex could see red tainting his cut pants, as he was starting to bleed.

“Dammit!” Alex said under his breath as the pain was moving up on his leg. The cut seemed to be somewhat harsh, and Alex imagined that it would be hard standing on that leg for a while.

However, he didn’t had much time to think about it, for the growling of the golden bear behind him forced him to look at him. The bear was now looking at him, standing on two legs, and Alex could see clearly all of the holes that he had burn on his clothing by shooting lightnings at him, and he had a sight of the golden metal that formed the body of the bear underneath it.

If anything, all of that made the polar bear seem even more intimidating. Even because he was unsheathing his claws, and was ready to go for Alex, the look in his eyes positively murderous.

However, Alex was not paying attention only to him, but also to the place where he was.

In their little “catch me” game, Alex made the bear run across the place, and now, with this last blow, they had come very close to the waterfall and the pool beneath it. Actually, Pollard was at less than five feet from the edge, and that was something that Alex had hoped for…

“Okay, time to try it.” Alex said to himself, and he conjured lightning on his paws, forming spherical orbs of energy.

“You still trying that?” Pollard said, “Why do you think it will work this time?”

Alex didn’t answered, and instead, he just took a deep breath and pointed both of his paws at the polar bear. The electricity in both of his paws projected forward as a single great lightning, which Hit Pollard square in the chest.

The golden bear stopped on his tracks as he could actually feel the electricity on his body. Still, it made no damage to him.

However, Alex was not aiming to cause him damage this time, but just to push him back in direction to the pool. For that, Alex counted with his electricity to do the job.

However, Pollard was proving to be harder than that. For he was able to stand his ground, he was actually able to give a few steps “forward” in direction to the cougar.

Seeing that, Alex focused more, and his eyes started to glow in a blue shade, much the same as his lightning, which grew in power and size as it continued to fire on the polar bear.

Small lightnings were jumping form several points into Pollard’s body as this happened, and the polar bear actually made faces that resembled pain.

“This ain’t good.” Jeff said as both he and Linda watched the scene unfold beneath them. “I was hoping a good enough charge could actually cause him to walk back and fall in the water… but it seems that he is a tough guy. Not only that, but brass is non-ferromagnetic, what means that Alex can’t use electromagnetism to push him back.”

Nora was sure that all meant something, but she was not paying attention to it, for she was looking at the scene below, and she was well aware that Alex was having troubles now.

The cougar let out a feral yell as he put all the strength that he still had into a lightning, and now, Pollard actually let out a scream as well as the electricity enveloped him. The flash resulting of this was so bright that forced both mammals to cover their eyes on the sidewalk above, and it could actually be seem from the outside, startling some of the mammals in there.

As the lightning subsided, Alex felt to his knees, panting, and feeling like he had ran several marathons in a row. He was panting as he tried to regain his breath, and he almost felt dizzy, as he looked up.

And he saw Pollard still standing.

The polar bear looked at him with hate in his dull, golden eyes, his upper clothing now had been almost completely carbonized, exposing a good deal of his golden chest, and a point on his chest that actually seemed a bit charred. It was the point where the lightning had made direct contact with his body, and it seemed like it managed to actually cause some damage to the bear.

“Okay…” He said, as he continued to look at the cougar, as he reached out, grabbed the charred remains of his clothing and tore them off, leaving his chest bare “ _That_ actually hurt!” The bear said, and the way that he spoke seemed to make it clear that he was pissed off beyond belief. He immediately started to walk in direction to Alex, and the cougar was far too tired to try and run from him.

Up in the sidewalk, Jeff turned to Nora.

“Now is your turn!”

He spoke in an urgent way, Nora only nodded at him, and she looked down, vanishing a second later.

Pollard was walking to the cougar, and he already unsheathed his claws. He found it curious that he had them when he first turned into a bear, and he decided that one day he would try to see what they could do to someone else when he was in brass form. Well, the day had came…

However, he didn’t had the chance to reach for the cougar, for he heard a sound right behind his back, and he turned his head to look at it. What he saw was the raccoon girl standing on his shoulder.

Nora had just teleported right into his shoulder, and was now using her only remaining hand to have as good a grip in it as she possibly could. It was a bit hard, considering how slippery that body was, but she was good with her hands, she had always been. She had a good grip in record time, and just as the bear was about to reach her-

“Why you little-”

Suddenly, Pollard and Nora both disappeared in the air in a blur, and they reappeared soon after…

Twenty feet above the ground, just above the pool of water.

Immediately, Pollard started to fall, and Nora soon vanished. She materialized again on the ground, landing on her feet, while Pollard pummeled right into the pool with a big splash.

The animals around all looked at this, as they saw the place where the bear had pummeled into the water, and this was just in the place where the waterfall fell into the pool. Jeff was looking with a particular smile on his face.

* * *

Underneath the water, Pollard sunk as he looked up, trying to make out what was happening, and it took him a few seconds. However, it was also the time that he took to reach the bottom of the plunging pool.

The bear looked around, as he was able to get back on his feet. This was bad.

When he was in brass form, he was stronger and more powerful, he was able to resist bullets and scratches, and he even became resilient to most forms of damage. However, even in this form, he still had to breathe, and in this form, he could not swim!

So that was the plan of those little shits!

Grunting under the water as he looked around, the bear saw that the “pool” was somehow like a depression, and he even tried to move around to climb it. However, the weight of his own body seemed to be enough to prevent him from moving around, as it would pull him back to the ground as he tried to climb.

Pollard grunted as he looked around, and he was already imagining the little fuckers up there, looking at the water and just waiting for him to drown. Oh, they were going to get what was coming to them!

Pollard grunted, as his body started to change again. This time, his body became less smooth, and the single smooth, golden skin that he once had, morphed back into the coat of white fur that covered his body. His body changed, becoming more fragile and lighter. Even his eyes changed back into the normal coloration that they had, becoming once more teal-blue in coloration, and they looked just as angry as when they were dull and golden.

As his body completely changed back to normal, he felt himself getting lighter in the water. His body at first was so heavy that it was stuck into the ground, but now, it floated easily in the water. Now, he didn’t even needed to climb, for he could just swim to the surface, and swimming as something that now seemed to come very naturally to him.

He was soon moving indirection to the surface, and he was soon breaking the surface, taking a huge breath of fresh air, before turning his eyes back to the mammals who had put him in there.

The raccoon girl was looking at him, and she seemed ready to fight. Behind her, the cougar looked like he was still recovering.

“You thought it would be easy to get rid of me?” Pollard said to them, as he started to swim in direction to the edge of that pool. “You thought I’d just sit in the bottom of the water and stay there? You little fuckers, I’m going to make rugs out of your pelts!”

The two mammals looked at him as he approached the edge, and he was already walking in it, his fur dripping wet. “You both are going to regret-”

He was saying as he placed a hand in the edge of the pool, but stopped when he felt something standing in it. He looked, and saw a mouse in there, smiling at him.

“Hi there! I’m Jeff!” The mouse said, before starting to run up his arm.

“What the- HEY!” Pollard said, as he tried to shake that rodent away from his arm, but was unsuccessful, and at some point, Jeffrey was able to reach a certain area of his arm. He got a hold of the fur on the arm of the bear with a single hand, while the other was close into a fist and slammed into a specific area of the arm.

Jeffrey had just punched right into a nervous termination, and the result was immediate. Pollard let out a pained gasp as his whole arm shook, having the feeling as if he had been hit with an electrical current in the whole arm, as it was shaking.

“Graaahhh! You little shit!” Pollard cried out, and he tried to shake his arm, but it was hard with little thing that the mouse had done. Still, he was able to shake Jeff enough for the mouse to let go.

However, Jeff had actually planned that.

Under normal conditions, it would be impossible for a small mouse to be able to beat a mammal as big and strong as a polar bear. After all, the difference in size and strength was so great that it was on the verge of being just plain ridiculous.

But, what if that mouse was able to know exactly the position of the most important and vulnerable nerves in the body of the polar bear? What if the mouse knew the exact amount of strength he had on his own paws? What of the mouse knew exactly how and where to hit the polar bear to be able to cause maximum effect only by punching with a tiny fist? What if the mouse was actually able to plan and calculate the angle and strength of the swing of the arm of the angry polar bear so he would land back into him in the exact position that he wanted?

Well, Jeff was one mouse who was capable of all of these things. That made him be the kind of mammal who could, in a situation like that, do the impossible.

As Jeff let go from the arm of the bear, he spun in the air, and was able to dive in direction to the neck of the bear, using his hands, until the very last gram of strength to hold himself in the fur of the polar bear.

Once he had a good grip and found himself secured to the bear, he climbed his neck to a specific point. Once he was in there, Jeff once more raised his fist, and this time, he was aiming at a very particular set of nerves in the side of the neck of the bear, and he slammed his fist in there with all of the strength that he could muster.

Pollard’s eyes widened as his mouth opened, and all that came out was a wheezing roar, as his body trembled. After a few moments, his eyes rolled back, his eyelids closed, and he fell forward.

He was on the edge of the pool, so while the lower half of his body remained in the water, the upper half of him landed heavily on the stone floor. He stayed in there, his body still twitching slightly, and he let out half groans in his state of consciousness.

The two mammals in there looked at the scene, and Jeff, who was standing in Pollard, walked into his head, and spoke to his two friends:

“And _this_ is how a mouse brings down a polar bear!”


	16. Testimonies, Job Offers, and Files

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the battle with Pollard. The meta mammals are called to give testimonies, someone prevents Pollard from going to jail, Nora receives an offer from Mr. Big, and someone is checking on files...

After Pollard was took down, and the ZPD entered the palace and secured the perimeter, everything seemed to become calmer. Of course, this did not prevented a great deal of reporters from swarming around the place.

"It is true that this was another event involving meta mammals!?" One reindeer reporter asked. "Would this make of this the third event in which one or more meta mammals would be directly involved in less than two weeks?"

"Please, keep distance!" Was the only answer that she got from a couple police officers who were making sure that only the right mammals would get past the police lines that were placed in there. That meant, only the guys who were officers, forensics, and also the paramedics.

Inside the Thaw, the mammals in there who had been attacked by Pollard, namely, the security staff, were receiving medical attention. Many of them had suffered concussion, and some of them were going to have to await for their teeth to grow back. Anyway, all of them were going to need some medical attendance, as well as a certain cougar.

"Ouch!" Alex said as one of the doctors just touched his leg, raising the leg of his pants to be able to look at the wound that was inflict by the claws of the polar bear.

Alex did not wanted to look at it, but he already knew that it was not pretty. Now that the adrenaline from the fight had subsided, he could feel the pain of that wound which was inflict to him. It burned, and touching it directly only made the pain worse. Alex could still feel the blood on his leg and fur, even though it had quickly got cold and hardened due to the coldness of that place.

"Man! That is an ugly wound." The doctor who was examining him said. "You need to treat it as soon as possible."

"He is right." Nora said, looking at the wound, but just for a second, before she looked away, looking a bit sickened. She did not dealt well with blood, and that was something that Alex knew himself. "You need to go to the hospital as soon as you can."

"Yes, we'll take you there." The doctor said, and he was gesturing for a few of the paramedics to come take the cougar, but Alex protested:

"No… sorry, I already have a doctor. In the Savannah Central General Hospital." Alex said, as he got on his feet. "It is doctor Moosard, I would really feel more comfortable if he was the one treating me." Alex said to the doctors as he tried to walk away from them.

"Well, at least let us clean this wound and put some bandages." The doctor said, and soon, a few more animals came closer to him, and Alex looked at them as they had some first-aid material with them. Alex ventured to look at his wound, and he flinched as he looked at that. Well, having this thing cleaned before it could infect was a good idea…

Soon, the animals were threating his wound, what they started by using some hydrogen peroxide to clean it. In the moment that water full of oxygen was dump on his wound, it burned like hell. Alex could barely contain himself as he let out a feral yell that startled many of the mammals around.

They stared at Alex, who could only look down and blush profusely as he felt ashamed of himself for making a scene like that. Still, it was hard to ignore the burning on his wound as it was cleaned and disinfected.

Soon, after the wound was clean, the doctors passed some bandages on it, as the doctor spoke:

"Well, the wound seems a bit large, but it does not seem very deep. Also, it luckily did not hit any important area, and it seems to have missed the tendons, what is very good." The doctor said, giving a few pats on the leg, what made the cougar wince a bit. "You are a very lucky cat, Mr. Hunter. Still you really need to make a better check on this wound in the hospital, I' mean it."

Alex nodded at him, making an "o.k." sign to him. After that, Alex was left alone, while the doctors went to take care of other people around.

"So… you were in quite a few situations since we arrived in this world, haven't you?" Nora asked, after a few moments of silence. Alex looked at her, and he was actually able to smile.

"Yeah, kind of…. So, raccoon, huh?" Alex asked, and Nora looked away.

"I'm still beamed about this." She spoke as she looked around, "You wouldn't believe how other animals treated me just because of my species."

As they both talked, a hammock carrying another mammal passed by them. They could hear a familiar small voice in the bed, along with a familiar polar bear, unconscious, and all strapped to it and with a muzzle on his face.

"Make sure to use this precise combination of drugs intravenously. Trust me, it will prevent him from activating his powers." Jeff said to the doctors as they transported Pollard, who was still unconscious, some police officers were coming along with them, all of them carrying their own weapons. As they passed by the two mammals in there, Jeff looked at them and said:

"Oh, this is my stop! Thank you guys! I leave it to you." He said as he raced and jumped out of the hammock, and was able to swing into the clothes and tails of the doctors and officers, before landing in the ground and rolling a bit. He stopped for a moment, with Alex and Nora both looking at him, as he got up and cleaned his clothes, making himself look more presentable, as he looked at his two friends.

"Well, I guess this whole situation went pretty good, all things considered, right?" The two mammals looked at him, and Jeff continued: "I mean, we did catch the bad guy, and we escaped with a single wound, right guys?"

"Yeah, I want to see if it was in your leg." Alex said to him as he tried to stand, and found himself limping in that leg. "Dammit!" Alex said as he went back to the ground.

"Guys!" A voice called, and they could see the familiar faces of Judy and Nick approaching them. "Are you two okay?"

"Yeah, I'll live." Alex said, as she approached, "The doctor already gave it a look."

"We need to go back to the hospital." Judy said as she looked at this. "The doctors need to check this to make sure it is not serious."

"Yeah, everybody is saying it."

"Because it is true!" Nora said, "I mean, what if this star bleeding later? You need to make sure you are okay so you don't lose your foot." She spoke, crossing her arms. She then noticed that the officers were now looking at her, both the bunny and the fox. "Huhhh, hi, I don't believe we properly met… I'm Nora Ringwald." She said to them, offering her hand.

They shared a look, and Nick was the first to take a step forward. "Nick Wilde." He said as he shook her hand. "This fluff here is my partner."

"Judy Hopps." Judy said, stepping forward for herself, offering her hand to shake. Nora shook it, and Judy said: "It is really nice meeting another of Alex and Linda's friends." She said as she shook her hand. "And two in one day. Can we expect to meet more?"

"Well, I would be unable to tell." Nora said, "Wait, is Linda in here too?"

"Yeah, she has been around for one week now… How long have you been in Zootopia?" Alex asked, and Nora looked up at him.

"Well, around one week too, but I was not around much." She admitted. "I kind of got hurt in all of that craziness. When I wake up I'm in a strange town and I'm turned into a-" She was about to complete, but she stopped when Jeffrey started to frantically made signals to her, and she understood that it was better follow him in this when she saw the way the other two officers looked at her.

"Into a… nervous and confuse mess because I don't know where I am." She completed, and continued: "I spent hours walking in the streets, trying to figure out the layout of this city, and I nearly got mauled by some big brutes who 'didn't wanted a raccoon around'." She said that bitterly.

"That is an absurd!" Judy said, "This kind of speciest behavior is not even legal!"

"Yeah, someone should tell those guys." Nora spoke, and she continued: "Well, some of them beat me up pretty bad, and I was left alone to bleed in that snowy alley. That was when someone found me." She spoke, and the others shared a look.

"This 'someone' was Mr. Big, by any chance?" Jeff asked her.

"Yeah, well, actually it was Koslov, the guy who works for him, but he took me in and they took care of me in the past week." She spoke, and suddenly, a voice sounded.

"Well, that explains why you were on his house."

The ones turned to see the familiar faces of the chiefs Bogo and Ursini approaching. The bear was looking at her as he approached more. "I really need to talk to you, lady." He spoke as he approached.

"We need to talk with  _all_  of you." Bogo said, as he looked at the three meta mammals. "About what happened today."

The cougar, the mouse, and the raccoon all shared looks. Nora sighed, and she knew that there was no way out of that. "Okay, what you want to know?" She asked them.

"Everything." Bogo said.

The next minutes were basically the three mammals explaining what had happened before, during, and after the officers and the two meta mammals had arrived in the Big property. Well, the "before" part was, of course, told from Nora's point of view.

"So, you were able to bring the polar bear down with a shock stick?" Ursini asked.

"Yeah, that and I also used my powers." Nora said.

"The thing of disappearing and reappearing?"

"Yes, my teleport power."

"Wait a minute." Nick said, interrupting this and looking at the raccoon. "So, you can actually teleport? I mean, I saw it in action, but, you can actually teleport? Like 'beam me up, Scott'?" He had a smile on his face.

"Yeah, pretty much…" Nora said, and she looked around. "Watch." She said, gesturing to an area ahead of them, were there were many flatware in the ground.

The others looked at her, and then, she suddenly vanished, startling them. Alex and Jeff were not, however, for they had already see Nora teleport a few times, and they already knew what she was able to do. They looked at her as she whistled, getting the attention of the police animals, and she waved at them.

They waved back at her, and she suddenly vanished again, reappearing right where she was a moment ago. "Do you guys see?" She said, catching their attention, and also startling them very slightly as she did that.

"This is… unbelievable." Ursini said.

"Actually, this kind of thing was predicted by some forms of science." Jeff said to the other animals, making them look at him. "In fact, the event of  _quantum teleportation_  exists in the realm of the quantum physics, being possible for microscopic particles to travel from one point into another without traversing the existing space between the two points. Nora's ability is basically this, with the only difference that she brings it to the macroscopic scale, teleporting a body on the size of a mammal, namely, herself."

The other animals continued to look at him, and they looked back at Nora, who shrugged. "Yeah, whatever the smart guy says."

"Okay, it is very interesting, but I think we are diverging." Bogo said, "Lets go back to the subject? What happened after you ran with Pollard coming after you?"

So, the three animals continued to describe their experience, which included their race to the Thaw, Alex's direct combat with Pollard, and Jeff's plan to dump him in the water to make him sink.

"How you knew it was going to work?" Ursini asked.

"Because I observed him while Alex fought, and I noticed that he was breathing. Do you remember? The fog formed on his breath when he was snarling." The mouse said, as if anyone should have seen that. "So, I assumed that, even when he was turned into brass, he also had the same need of breathing as other mammals. Of course, having a body made of solid brass meant that you can't float in liquid, so I assumed that he would be unable to swim if he was in this form.

"So… your plan was to lure him to the plunge pool and drop him there to drown?" Ursini asked as he looked at the mouse.

"Of course not!" Jeff said, "I'm not a psychopath. We could not defeat him while he was in brass form, so the plan was to dump him into the water to force him to return to his normal form, so he could be dealt with."

"Right, so, he turned back to normal, came back to the surface not to drown, and then Hunter took care of him." Ursini said.

"Actually, it was Jeff who took the guy down." Alex corrected them, and this made everyone look at the mouse, who smiled proudly. Of course, the next two minutes were Jeff explaining exactly how he had brought the polar bear down to the ground unconscious.

"It is all about knowing exactly where to hit." The mouse said, "The 'pressure point hit' is not just for anime and martial arts movies. There are a lot of vulnerable nerves spread across the body, and it you hit them in the right way and with the right strength, you can bring down nearly anything."

The other animals continued to look at the mouse, all of them too surprised to actually form thoughts.

"So, after that you guys came in. So, it was basically it." Alex said, summing everything up. After these words, there were some moments of silence.

"Man… ever since you guys appeared I feel like I'm into a movie or something." Nick said to the three meta mammals.

"Yeah, I kind of have the same feeling in the past days." Alex said, more honestly than he expected himself to sound.

"Ministein, you gotta teach me the 'knockout-pressure-point' thing." Nick said, "I mean; can you imagine if I knew how to do that? I'd be like, the super fox cop!" Nick said, making a few kung fu-like movements. This caused Judy to look at him and punch him lightly into the arm.

"Nick, this is serious!" She said, as her fox partner rubbed his arm.

"So, this is everything?" Ursini asked. The three animals nodded. "I see… What can you tell us about Pollard, if you know anything."

"Never saw him before." Alex said.

"Only rumors and gossip, but I had access to a bit of useful information." Jeff said

"Heard about him in the past, and it was nothing of good." Nora said, "That guy always seemed like the kind with whom I would cross someday." She said, and that last part was more to herself than to the others around her. Of course, this caught the attention of a certain big and strong polar bear chief.

"And, why would be that?" Ursini asked her, and she looked up at him, and back at her friends.

Jeff patted her leg, and she said, "Well, you better tell them now, before they find later and misinterpret it." Nora looked down at Jeff.

"Tell us what?" Judy asked, getting curious now. Nora looked at her, and she sighed, as she already knew that she was in for an explanation, and she decided to make it clear now that she had a chance of explaining.

"You see, I have a job that is not exactly traditional." Nora said to them. "I was trained to be specialized into entering into fortified locals, overcoming security systems, and retrieving items, all of that while avoiding detection."

There was a silence after these words, as the other animals processed what she said. Nick was the first one to speak:

"So… you are just telling us all, the police officers, that you are a thief?"

"I'm not!" Nora said defensively. She recomposed herself, and she spoke: "My job is to break into secured facilities and remove items from there."

"So… a thief." Bogo said.

"I'm not a thief." Nora said incisively, and she said, "I work in exchange for payment, and I only work for the good guys."

"You can say she is a spy-for-hire." Alex said, and he added, "And it is true, she does not works for criminals, actually, it is from them that she steals things."

"Yeah, I already helped to retrieve many stolen goods." Nora said, and she seemed to have a good deal of pride of this. The other animals shared looks.

"So, a teleporting spy, huh?" Nick said, "How we never heard of anything of the like?"

"Good question, officer Wilde." Usrini said, and he looked at the raccoon girl.

"Well, maybe because she is a spy, and her job would not be well done if everyone knew about her, ain't I right?" Jeff said to the other animals, and actually, his argument had a good point. This seemed to settle the argument, and Nora was able to relax.

"Man, a spy-for-hire, just like in the movies." Nick said, and he approached her. "How much would charge to discover the blueberry crumble recipe of a fox named Gideon Grey? I have been wanting it for a while now." Nick whispered to Nora, and she looked at him a little surprised, unsure if he was serious or not.

A loud throat clearing was enough to make the two mammals look at the water buffalo in there, who looked with an annoyed expression that made both smaller mammals flinch. After that, Ursini spoke once again.

"Yes, but what  _real_  information you have on Pollard?"

"Besides his last name and his powers, and also the gossip thing?" Jeff asked him, "Pretty much nothing." He concluded, and this only made the bear leave him a deadpanned face. This was surely not what he had expected to hear, it surely was not the kind of thing that satisfied him, and Jeff had easily perceived it.

"Don't worry, you can ask him all the questions that he wants once he wakes up. The police officers and the paramedics are taking him to the hospital as we speak." The rodent said to the polar bear, and this caught Judy's attention.

"He was under the right amount of restraint?"

"They put a muzzle on him." Alex said, shrugging.

"For a guy like that, I bet it will not be nearly close to enough." Nora mentioned, and Jeff quickly was the one to speak:

"Don't worry, if the paramedics follow my instructions he will be properly restrained in no time."

"And, what were your instructions?" Bogo asked.

"Oh, just a concoction of chemicals and drugs that, once injected intravenously on him in a way that it arrives directly at the brain, will prevent him from activating his powers."

"Say what now?" Nick asked.

"How do you know how to prevent him from using his powers?" Ursini demanded, "Didn't you said you knew nothing about him?"

"I don't." Jeff said, "But I know the right cocktail of drugs that can prevent any meta mammal injected with it from using their abilities."

This was something that the other mammals did not really expected.

"So, you know how to prevent some meta mammals from using their powers? For real?" Nick asked him.

"And I know a way to project a portable system that will inject the drugs on their system periodically, so it can make it easier for imprisoning them." Jeff asked.

"How do you know something like that?" Bogo asked him.

"Because I am a genius." Was Jeff's simply answer.

However, as he spoke that, Judy was able to notice that both Alex and Nora suddenly looked uncomfortable. She found it suspicious, but did not said a single word on the matter. But she was not going to forget that look of uneasiness in their faces and the way that the matter seemed to bring back bad memories…

"Anyway, this will allow Pollard to be properly secured, and maybe even moved to a cell with little problem." Jeff concluded, and he looked up at the officers. "So, any more important questions or just some curiosity that you might have?"

There were a few moments of silence, before Nick said: "Yeah, actually yes, do you know any way of getting free cable without breaking the law?" That was an attempt at a joke, and this only annoyed Judy and Bogo, but Jeff simply said:

"Take me to your house in three days from now and I'll help you with that." He had a smile in his face as he winked to the fox, who stared back at him, not expecting some kind of come back from the mouse. This was enough to make Judy chuckle a little, for it was unusual to see someone to be able to leave the suave fox speechless.

Even Bogo was able to give a very brief smile at this. Even if it was just slightly and just for a single moment.

"So, this is really all that you guys know?" Ursini asked of them, and they nodded. The polar bear let out a sigh, and he turned around as he spoke: "Okay, then let's move around to the station. I need all of your testimonies written down for the protocol. The last thing I need now is a problem with the burocracy."

It seemed that these words were to settle the situation for good.

* * *

Meanwhile. The ambulance that was transporting Pollard was moving across the snow and ice covered streets of Tundratown. Inside of it, the polar bear was still unconscious, strapped to the hammock and with a muzzle over his maw. The bear groaned in his state as he was feed some anesthetics through the intravenous, as if a measure to be sure that he was going to remain unconscious.

Around him, three police officers and two paramedics were doing their job. The job of the paramedics was to make sure that the polar bear was alive, and the police officers' job was, if it seemed that the polar bear would try to escape, they would dart him before he could turn himself into brass. (It was still hard for them to believe in it, even though they all knew it was truth).

"Do you think we should do as the mouse said?" One snow leopard paramedic asked. "I mean, the drugs that he described are strong ones, and putting them in a cocktail actually sounds a bit risky."

"How do he even knows that this cocktail will prevent the polar bear from using his powers?" The reindeer woman paramedic said, and the police officers only shrugged at this. However, they knew that they needed to make sure that the polar bear that they were transporting would arrive in the hospital and that he was going to stay in there until he was move to a cell.

They were all on the edge of their seats, for their were described what the polar bear was capable off, and they wanted to be ready in case he tried anything, so they would not fall victim of that guy, just like the poor guys of earlier.

However, they were only ready for something coming from that polar bear, and not for something coming from the outside.

As the ambulance continued to move, it suddenly had to stop as it found a block on the road. It was in the form of a barricade in the round, and there was one mammal standing in the middle of the street, wearing a heavy coat that covered its whole body. It just stood in there as the ambulance approached, and the mammal continued where he was.

"What is that guy doing?" One of the two drivers of the ambulance said as the ambulance stopped, and they looked at that mammal, who just stood in the middle of the street, in front of a barricade that didn't looked like something the police would do.

The two drivers looked at each other, and one of them opened his door to step out of the ambulance and look at the mammal in the street.

"Hey! Hey, man!" The paramedic called out, but the mammal in the heavy coat didn't moved. "Come on, dude! Move out of the way! We need to move so we-GAH!" He suddenly cried out and held the back of his neck as something had just hit him in there. A dart was sticking out of the back of his neck.

The poor mammal dropped to the ground unconscious before he could even turn around to see at what had darted him.

This, of course, surprised the other guy in the ambulance, but he didn't had time to react, for immediately, the one who darted his friend came into sight and darted him. The poor mammal barely could give a good look at the mammal who was pointing a dart gun at him before he had to grab his own arm, which had a dart in it, and things were already getting dark. He was unconscious before he was able to identify even the species of his shooter.

"Why have we stopped?" A wolf officer asked, and the others thought it to be strange too.

"We weren't supposed to." The reindeer said, "They should take us through a way that we wouldn't get any traffic." She spoke, and she opened the small window that allowed seeing the front seats of the ambulance easily.

She gasped when she saw that one of the seats was empty, and the other one was take by a skinny polar bear who was unconscious and with a dart sticking out of his shoulder.

Her gasp called the attention of the others who were on the back of ambulance, but none of them had time to react, for suddenly, the doors on the back of the ambulance were slam open.

The ones in there had no time to react as each one of them was hit with a dart, and they were unconscious before they had a chance to see what had darted them.

Once they had fallen unconscious, the ambulance sank in the snow slightly as mammals climbed into it. Pollard was the only one who had not been darted, and the other animals soon were moving around him as they raised his hammock and were now taking him outside.

A black van without windows was waiting in there, and soon, they slipped Pollard inside there, and they all got inside, including the mammal in heavy coat in the middle of the street.

Soon, the van was driving away, leaving behind just an ambulance filled with darted mammals and without the mammal who was really supposed to be in there…

* * *

Alex and the others had been drove to the police central of the ZPD in Tundratown. In there, each one of them had to give their own testimonies into an interview room, and each one had a different officer to take it and record it accordingly. It was all a process more than anything else, and it was more for legal reasons than any other motive.

By the end, they all were liberated and told to give away their contacts so they could be found later if the police had any kind of questions for them, or if they needed to check back on their testimonies. Alex was already walking back to the main hall, and he was doing that with the help of a crutch, because with the wound on his leg, walking was proving to be a little painful if he landed all of his weight in a single leg for too long.

He was soon reaching the main hall, where he expected to find the others, and he did, along with someone else.

"Linda!?" Alex said in surprise as he saw his gazelle girlfriend in there, and it seemed like she had been talking with Bogo about something that was serious, and she turned around to look at him in the moment that he walked in.

"Alex!" She said, and she ran to him, hugging him thigh and almost sending him to the ground as he was made to drop his crutch and having to support on one leg and on Linda herself.

"I heard you had got hurt from the claws of a polar bear!" She said to him as she hugged him, and Alex was a bit stunned for a moment. Eventually, he started to hug her back.

"Yeah, we kind of got a situation." Alex said, and Linda broke the hug, and gave him a kiss on the lips for a few moments. Before breaking it and giving Alex a punch in the shoulder.

"Ouch!"

"Why do you always do that!?" She demanded of him. "Don't you know when it is the moment to walk away!?"

Alex didn't answered, and the silence prolonged for a few moments, before Linda hugged him once more.

"I'm so glad that you are okay." She said to him as she hugged him. Meanwhile, the other animals around were looking at that, and some of them with surprise. Between them, the same animals who had come in there with Alex.

"So… that is his girlfriend?" Ursini asked to Bogo.

"Yes."

"A gazelle?"

"Yes."

"Well, that's… interesting…" Ursini said as he saw the prey and predator having a moment for themselves.

After a while, a voice broke their moment down.

"Good to see you are two still as clingy as ever."

Lind immediately let go of Alex, and looked over. Seeing a raccoon girl with a mechanical claw in the place of one of her hands, Linda immediately made a connection.

"Nora!" She exclaimed, letting go of Alex, who lost his balance and fell on the floor, flat on his butt.

"Oh my god! Nora! I was so worried with you!" Linda said as she hugged her friend, her wounded boyfriend now was forgotten (or so it seemed) as she put her talk in day with her just found friend.

"You won't believe what I have been through!" Nora said, "I spent my first hours in Zootopia trying to figure out where I was and also avoiding some big brutes from attacking me. This place is a zoo! What is actually a little obvious, since it is full of animals…" Nora said, and Linda was sympathizing with her.

"When I woke up I almost used my powers on two male gazelles who would not stop hitting on me."

"Wait, say what now?" Alex said, the talk of someone hitting on his girl getting his attention. That was when Jeff came in to the ladies.

"Yes, indeed, we all are happy that we found our dear friend Nora, now, why don't we save the talk for a more opportune moment? When we are not in a place where it feels like certain parts of me are about to freeze until they fall off? I can barely feel my tail…"

"Indeed." Bogo said, "Since you all gave your testimonies, and if you are all done with your little reunion, then I guess we should take Hunter back to the hospital. The last thing I need is someone saying that the cougar lost a leg because I didn't took him to the hospital."

"Oh yes! Alex, your leg!" Linda said, as if she suddenly remembered that Alex was in there. Meanwhile, Alex had started to get up, and Linda soon was right by his side, helping him stand. "You need to go to the hospital now. Nora, you can come with us!"

Nora looked away, "Huh, well…"

"Oh, come on, it is nice in there." Linda said. "Doctor Moosard is a really cool guy, and I bet that you will like him. Come on, after all, you need a place to stay."

"Well, the thing is, I  _already_  have a place to stay. I mean, I think." Nora said, looking down.

"You do? Where?"

"That would be in my residence." A new voice said, one that was squeakily, like Jeff's, but also carried a strength that allowed others to hear it.

Linda and Alex both turned to the source of the voice, and they saw a polar bear on a suit walking in their direction. Linda looked at him, surprised that an animal that big could have a voice like that. However, her surprise shifted when she saw that the polar bear was carrying a small rodent, also in a suit and sitting in a chair, on his big hand.

"Miss Ringwald is currently living with in my residence as a guest." The rodent announced. "By the way, I think it is time for us to go back in there. The  _three_  of us." The small rodent said, and Nora looked up at him, as the arctic shrew looked back at her. "I believe there are some matters that need to be discussed."

Nora soon found herself unable to meet his gaze, as she looked down. Meanwhile, Alex and Jeff shared a look, while Linda looked among them all, as she had not yet been introduce to the whole situation beforehand.

"Wait a minute." Ursini said, "Where do you think you are going?"

"Back to my house, along with my bodyguard and my guest, Miss Ringwald." The rodent said. "After all, you already have my testimony, and so you have theirs', so I think that we have no more reason to be in here."

Ursini looked at the small rodent with hate, and his fists clenched. "You still haven't told how you knew Pollard."

"I never saw that bear in my life, and I already told you that." The arctic shrew said to the polar bear. "But, since you seem to insist so much into asking these questions, maybe I can call my lawyers in here so you can ask them. I can also use the chance to tell them that I'm being held in here as a criminal after  _my_  house was invaded and  _I_  was attacked, along with my employers."

For a moment, the ones around thought that Ursini was going to try to bite the small rodent, but he merely growled at them, showing off his fangs, and the rodent seemed completely unfazed by it.

After a few moments, Ursini just said, "Just leave." As he continued to look with hate at the rodent, who nodded at the polar bear who was carrying him. Koslov nodded, and he started to walk away.

"Miss Ringwald, I believe that my limo is already outside, we should be going now." Big said as he and Koslov passed by Nora. She hesitate for a moment, as her friends looked at her. "Now, if you might." Big called, and Nora only looked to her friends.

"Well, I guess I'll be seeing you guys later." She said, and she rushed to meet up with Koslov, who was waiting for her, along with is boss. Soon, the polar bear and the raccoon both had got out of the building, and Ursini let out an angry growl.

"I hate that rat!" He said in anger, and he stomped away. By now, anyone could say that it seemed to have a serious story between Ursini and Big, well, the ones who had been in there since the beginning, which seemed not to be Linda's case.

"Who were these two?" She asked to her friends.

"The little guy's name is Big." Alex said to her as he watched as they went away. "The big dude carrying him… I think someone mentioned his name to be 'Koslov', or something of the like."

"Is Nora with these two?"

"Apparently she is."

"I am a little worried…. I mean, I am not prejudiced, or anything, but these two kind of look like criminals, don't they?"

"That is because they  _are_  criminals." Alex said in a blunt way, which surprised Linda, as the cougar simply continued to look at the direction that Nora had went with the other two mammals.

_Nora… what you got yourself into?_

* * *

True to Big's words, there was a limo waiting just outside of the precinct as they walked out. Manchas was actually waiting right on the side of it.

Nora had already seen the jaguar limo driver, and she even spoke with him briefly in one or another occasion, but she didn't truly knew him. Still, in the rare times they had talked in the past week, he had been very cordial and polite, and so he was now, as he offered a smile to her, to his boss and to the polar bear as he opened the door to them.

Once inside, the limo started to drive in direction to some place.

"Unfortunately, the house has become a crime scene, and it needs to be liberated before we can return. Luckily, I do have other properties. I'm sure that we can stay in one of them for a while until the police finishes their job. That is, if Chief Ursini don't tries to make them rip out the boards of the floor in search for anything that he could use against me."

As Big talk, Nora continued to look down, and she seemed to be getting ready for a conversation that she'd rather not have at all.

"So, Nora." Big said, finally looking at her, Koslov made his boss be in a position where he was on the same eye level at the raccoon. "It seems that you are a mammal full of surprises, aren't you?"

Nora didn't knew how to answer, and instead, she just looked at Mr. Big for a few moments, before she once more looked down.

"What, are you afraid of looking me in the eye?" Big asked her. He didn't sounded angry at all, only sounded like someone who was having a regular conversation.

Nora knew that it was a good sign; so, she decided to steel herself and to face this conversation the best she could. Taking a sigh, she looked up.

"What happens now?" She asked him, and he raised an eyebrow at her. "I mean, now you know that I have powers. What now? Will you leave me somewhere and tell me not to come back?"

Big looked at her, and his expression softened for a moment, as he looked at her. "I assume that you didn't had good experiences with the ones who found out about your powers, right?"

Nora continued to look at him. "Yeah, you could say that." She said to him.

"Well, I admit that I was really surprised." Big said to her, as he reclined on his chair, looking at the raccoon lady. "However, I would not put you out on the street. Not after you have risked yourself to protect us both."

Koslov actually nodded at that, agreeing with his boss.

"Indeed, I have to say that, if anything, I'm greatly impressed by your unique skills." Big spoke, and Nora looked at him.

When she was human, she was good at reading others, it was part of the work of being a spy, and it had always been good for her in her line of work. When she turned into an animal, she still maintained it, for it seemed that the animals in this world were amazingly human-like in nature.

She could see that there was something behind the words of that little rodent. She just knew that it had.

"In fact, after seeing how well you do in situations of difficulty like that back in the house." Big said, "I'd like to offer you a job, working for me."

Called it!

"A job…" Nora said, looking at the rodent, her expression serious. "What kind of job?"

"The kind that someone with your skills would be able to pull off easily." Big spoke to her, making a few gestures. He was being vague. He was avoiding talking directly on the subject, and Nora knew it. However, she had already figured out what the rodent was getting at.

"Is it illegal?" Nora asked, and Big remained silent. That was more than enough answer to the question.

"Stop the car, please." Nora said; looking away and there was a silence in the place. "Or you rather let me teleport out of here myself?" She asked him, and her expression was serious.

Big looked at her, and he finally sighed, and he said: "Well, I guess that everyone has their own morals and limitations. I'm one of them myself." Big spoke, and he continued to look at Nora. "One of them is that I always keep my word. Yes, I take the value of a mammal's word to be something that should not be take lightly. Don't you agree, Miss Ringwald?"

Nora only stared back at him, and the rodent said to her. "You look like the kind of mammal who keeps her word. In fact, you mentioned it at some point when you were staying in my house. Was it this earlier today?" He said, and he looked as if he was reminiscing. Nora looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"No." The rodent said, as he stopped and looked back at Nora. "That conversation was a different one… what was it that you said earlier?" He looked as if he was deep in thought. "Was it something important, wasn't it?... Oh, yes! You said that you  _owed_  me." He concluded.

Nora could barely contain her surprise, as she just looking at the rodent, who continued to look at her with a neutral expression as he had his arms resting in the armrests of his chair. It seemed that, to him, that was the kind of regular conversation. Nora, however, could barely believe this.

"I can't believe that you are playing this card." She spoke to him; her expression was not one of amusement. Mr. Big only continued to look at her.

"Well, I'm just speaking my mind, Nora." Big said, using her first name, as if to demonstrate that he considered her a friend. "Also, it was you who said that, not me." He spoke, matter-of-factly. Nora continued to look at the rodent. Big turned to Koslov, and said: "Tell Manchas to stop the limo."

Soon, the limo was stopping on the sidewalk, and Big looked at the raccoon girl.

"Nora." Big said to her. "You were nearly dead when Kevin and Raymond found you. They brought you to me, and I opened my doors to you." He spoke that solemnly, "Many mammals would hesitate into receiving a stranger into their homes, especially someone of your species, after all, you probably know the opinions that most have about raccoons."

Nora continued to look at him, and she realized it was truth. She had only been a raccoon for a little more than a week and she was already feeling like a black human in Shout Africa during Apartheid. It seemed like being a jerk was not something that was a privilege of humans.

"I didn't knew where you came from, your past, or your morals, and still, I accepted you in my home, I feed you, paid for your medical attendant, and gave you a place to stay." Big continued to speak. "I accepted you nearly as a member of my own family, I even trusted you enough to leave my granddaughter on your care. I did all of that for you, without asking or expecting nothing in return."

"Yeah… until now." Nora said, looking at him in the eyes, and Big sighed.

"Yes, I won't deny it. However, if you don't like the idea of working for me, I'm not going to force you." He said, and with that, Koslov opened the door of the limo. "You are free to go if you want, maybe accept the offer that the gazelle made of joining them in the hospital. However, let me ask you one thing."

Big leaned in, looked Nora in the eyes, and said "Don't you think that is natural for a mammal to want to repay the ones who did something for them?" He was looking her in the eyes as he spoke that. "Don't you think that is a common thing for mammals to do one thing for each other? Don't you believe that gratitude is an important thing to have on the present days, which are more and more selfish?"

Nora looked at him, and Big finally finished:

"Don't you think it is natural for a mammal to want to return the kindness of a complete stranger?"

Nora knew what he was getting at. That mammal was hard to read, but at the same time, he was clear as water.

Nora could just jump out of the limo and walk away, maybe go to meet with Linda, Alex and Jeff in that hospital. Better yet, she could just teleport outside of the car and disappear from the sight of that rodent forever.

However, something stopped her from doing these things, as the words of the arctic shrew echoed in her mind, making her think.

Big had indeed took her in his home without ever asking her to return it, up until the present moment. He took her in even though he didn't know who she was, and took care of her as if it was natural to do that for a stranger.

While all the other animals seemed to be against her because of her species, he was the first one who offered her a helping hand (even if it was not his own).

It was the kind of thing Nora couldn't just ignore and brush away as if it was nothing.

Who knows what would have happened to her if he had not taken her in.

She  _did_  owed him.

Nora looked at the opened door, and she sighed, as she sat more comfortably, and looked at Big with a softer expression herself.

"What kinds of jobs I'll be doing? Please, be a bit more specific." She said, and the way she talked told that she was in.

Big gave her a faint smile, and Koslov closed the door of the limo, which soon started to move again in the road, as the mammals inside were now having a business conversation.

* * *

Meanwhile, Linda and Alex were on Bogo's police car, and Alex had Jeff nested on his shoulder, as the buffalo was driving them back to the hospital.

"Two fights with dangerous mammals with super powers in less than one week." Jeff said to Alex.

"If this is going to become a pattern, I'm not amused." The cougar said, shifting his weight and wincing a little as his leg was still painful from the cut he received.

"Yeah, you might need to stay off that foot for a few days." Jeff said to Alex, and the cougar was force to agree with him.

"Dammit, the guy has some seriously mean claws." Alex said.

"Yeah, I guess this is what it happens in a fight between predators." Jeff said, patting the neck of his cougar friend. "I mean, if both have claws and are willing to sue them, I guess the result can expected to be something like that.

"Hey, I didn't used my claws."

"Yeah, instead all you did was firing lightnings at him until you carbonized his clothing." Jeff said to him with a smile, and Alex found himself to have no real answer for that one.

"I just hope Nora is okay." Linda said as she looked at the window.

"She is fine. Pollard didn't even touched her." Jeff said, and Linda looked at him as she spoke.

"You know that is not what I meant." She sounded annoyed. "I'm talking about that 'Mr. Big' guy and that mountain of fur and muscle that carries him around."

After Nora had left with Koslov and Big, Alex and Jeff both put Linda in pair of the individual known as "Mr. Big". Of course, they were unable to give her very detailed information, but they gave to her the basics.

Mafia. Henchmen. Racketeering. Money laundry. Dubious business all around Tundratown. People who are too afraid to speak anything to the authorities. The ones whom do talk, or who cross him in any other way just vanished, never to be see again.

Just everything that was needed to be said for Linda to know that he was the kind of guy who  _she_  would not want to get involved in any way.

"That Big is a criminal. What if she is in danger?" Linda asked, being worried about what would happen to Linda if she was left alone with these guys. "I mean, they could try to keep her prisoner! Or maybe try to sell her to someone! Or maybe hold her for ransom! Or maybe-" Linda could go on, but Alex was the one to cut her off.

"Hey, hey! Linda! Calm down." Alex said to her. "Have you forgotten we are talking about Nora? The same who helped us a lot of times in the past? The same who saved me from being burned alive only two months ago?" Alex reasoned with her. "She knows how to fend for herself, and she can kick some serious butt if they push her buttons."

Linda looked at her boyfriend, and Alex smiled at her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Nora will be fine." He said to her, and Linda was able to smile back at him. "She knows how to take care of herself."

"She better do." Bogo said as he looked at them from the rearview mirror. "Big is the kind of mammal who make many though mammals disappear without leaving a trace… But again, I guess that he never had to deal with a meta mammal ho could teleport before, so I'd say that her odds are good."

"I'm pretty sure that they are." Jeff said, "Also, I didn't thought that Big looked like he wanted to try to harm her. Actually, I'd say that he seemed… oddly interested in her." He concluded, and he did looked a bit worried about that, and this caught the attention of the other mammals around, but Jeff shook it off, and he soon was speaking again.

"Anyway, I'm pretty sure that she will be fine. If anything, she can just vanish from there and find us. She is good at this kind of thing, and she had already got off difficult situations." He concluded with a smile on his small, rodent muzzle, and this seemed to make the two mammals around him relax. Bogo, on his end, was not so sure. It seemed that the rodent was considering something that he didn't wanted to share with the others, and Bog kind of had a feeling about what it would be.

Suddenly, his radio buzzed to life. Bogo was the one to pick it up, and he reached out for it, as the voice spoke.

" _Attention, all unities in Tundratown. We have a situation of escape. The suspect Pollard has gone missing._ "

Say what!?

The car went silent as Bogo picked up the radio and pressed the button so he could speak.

"Here is Mason Bogo, from Precinct 1 ZPD, what do you mean by 'Pollard gone missing'?!" The water buffalo demanded, as the animals in the backseat shared looks among themselves.

" _The ambulance that was transporting him was found in the street._ " The voice in the other end said. " _The paramedics and officers were all found unconscious, and Pollard was nowhere to be seen._ "

"He managed to escape?" Bogo asked alarmed.

"He should not have woke up for the next two hours…" Jeff muttered to himself more than to the others. The attack on that nerve should have knocked him out effectively. Maybe he got it wrong? Maybe it worked in a different way to polar bears?

" _We are not sure if he actually escaped._ "

"Explain it." Bogo said, and the voice on the other end.

" _Well, the forensics are on their way, but it does not seem like a simply escape. All of the paramedics and officers had been hit with tranquilizer darts. Not only that, but the officers who found the ambulance noticed a set of footprints and tire marks that does not match the ones of the officers and of the ambulance._ "

Bogo listened carefully, and so did the mammals who were on the police car with him, all of them getting interested in the situation.

" _All of that leads to the conclusion that the ambulance was stopped and someone attacked the officers and the paramedics, and removed Pollard from there on their own vehicle._ "

There was silence following these words, and Bogo said, "Roger that." He said, and he hung up. However, the silence didn't lasted long, as a voice came from the radio once more, this time a familiar female voice.

" _Officer Hopps talking here. Chief, have you heard that?_ "

"Yes, Hopps, I have." The water buffalo said as he picked up the radio. "It seems that someone didn't wanted to see Pollard detained." He spoke, and the animals on the back only remained silent as they listened to that.

" _Okay, I'm turning back and heading there now!_ " Judy said on her end.

"Negative, Hopps." Bogo said. "We need to take Hunter back to the hospital. We have had enough emotions for one day. Besides, since it seem that Pollard was already take away, it would make no difference. This seems like a subject for the Tundratown PD. If they need our help, they will contact us again."

" _But Chief…_ "

"That is final, Hopps." Bogo said, "We are going back to the hospital. Copy that?"

There was a moment of silence, before Judy would answer " _Copy, chief. Hopps and Wilde out._ "

Bogo put his radio back in place, and he turned to the mammals on the back. "So, Mr. Genius, any idea who could have took Pollard away?"

He was asking particularly to Jeff, and the mouse was silent, as he seemed to be thinking about that.

"Maybe…" He spoke, but then he said, "No, nothing solid, only speculation."

Bogo rolled his eyes, and focused his attention back to the road. Meanwhile, the animals in the back continued to share looks, and it seemed that they were all wondering about it, just as Bogo surely was…

* * *

Somewhere else, in a room, a lonely figure was sitting in a desk, and tipping in front of a computer. In the screen, it was showing the image of a familiar cougar. It was part of a file, and in it was written down:

 **_Name:_ ** _Peregrine Hunter, Alexander_

 **_Species:_ ** _Cougar_

 **_Power:_ ** _Electric Manipulation_

 **_Status:_ ** _Monitored_

Soon, the file was closed, another one was right underneath it, and this one showed the image from a familiar gazelle, which seemed to be taken from some kind of security camera.

 **_Name:_ ** _Thompson, Linda_

 ** _Species:_**   _Thomson's gazelle_

 **_Power:_ ** _Telekinesis_

 **_Status:_ ** _Monitored_

Soon, the file was closed too, and now, the figure was working in three new files, typing the relevant information in each one of them.

The first file had the photograph of a rodent on it.

 **_Name:_ ** _Smalls, Jeffrey_

 **_Species:_ ** _Mouse_

 **_Power:_ ** _Enhanced Intelligence_

 **_Status:_ ** _Monitored_

The second one had the image of a familiar female raccoon, which also seemed taken from a security camera.

 ** _Name:_**   _Ringwald, Nora (?)_

 **_Species:_ ** _Raccoon_

 **_Power:_ ** _Teleportation_

 **_Status:_ ** _Monitored (C.O.)_

After that, that file was also closed, leaving behind a last file, and this one had the picture of a polar bear. Unlike the other ones, the polar bear of that picture was with his eyes closed, as if the picture had been take while he was unconscious.

The one who was typing took a moment to look at the image, and then, started to type.

 ** _Name:_**   _Pollard, Kim (?)_

 **_Species:_ ** _Polar bear_

 **_Power:_ ** _Brass Mimicry_

 **_Status:_ ** _Detained_


	17. New Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex and Linda moved out of the hospital, and see themselves in a new place to call home...

"Do you really need so much of my blood?" Alex asked after the last needle was remove from his arm. "I mean, didn't you got almost three bag of it? What do you do with all of it?"

"Is just for research." A lion doctor said as he took the syringe with Alex's blood in it and stored it into a compartment.

"But you already took a lot of samples. Don't you need just one?"

"Many of the scientists are requesting to have their own samples." Doctor Moosard said as he stood by Alex's side. "It seems that some of them have their own ideas of what kind of tests do with the blood samples, and some of them seem to believe that if they allow others to have access to it, it could interfere with the results of their own testing."

Alex looked up at him, "Well, I hope that they understand that I need my blood for my body to work."

Moosard chuckled a bit at him, "Don't worry, you are fine."

"Except for the wound in my leg." Alex said, as he got up from the chair, and used a close-by crutch to help himself to stand. The wound on his leg had been evaluated and treated properly by doctor Moosard in the previous day, when he came back after fighting Pollard. After they cleaned it and put a proper bandage over, the doctor said that Alex should avoid doing efforts on that leg for at least one week. Still, they say that he was lucky that Pollard's claws didn't hit any tendon.

"You are really lucky for escaping with little wounds by facing such dangerous individuals." Doctor Moosard said to him. "One swipe of these claws could easily have gotten you crippled for life."

"Yeah, I definitely would not do that again." Alex said, "Thanks for taking care of it, and I'm glad that I didn't needed any stitches."

"I still think that you should take an anti-tetanus shot."

"Nah, Jeff said I'm cool on that." Alex said, and he said to the others in the room, "So, since you seem to have all you need, then I'll be going back to my room now." He then started to walk away of the room without even waiting for an answer.

Sure, none of them tried to stop him, for they knew that trying to force the cougar to stay if he didn't wanted was a sure-shot to have them kicked out of the hospital and losing any and all access to the cougar. Doctor Moosard had made it perfectly clear, and since the doctor was the one that had access to the meta mammals, because they trusted him, they didn't want to get on his bad side.

Alex walked out of the room, and he started to walk back to his own room, which was easy now that he had memorized the hallways of the hospital for having lived in there for over a week, and he was ready to go back to his room, when a familiar voice called by the intercom of the hospital.

" _Attention, attention. Calling Mr. Hunter and Ms. Thompson. Your presence is requested on the room 882, of the third floor. Please, Alexander Peregrine Hunter and Linda Lorelei Thompson, please, come to room 882 on the third floor to discuss something that will be very important._ "

Alex looked up, and he rolled his eyes at the familiar voice. "Oh, Jeff." He said, as he turned around, and started to walk in another direction, now he was going to the elevator.

Upon arriving, the doors opened, to reveal Linda already in there, waiting for him and with her arms crossed.

"Hey."

"Hey."

Alex walked inside the elevator with the help of the crutch, and he was standing right by Linda's side as the door closed.

"So, how your day is going so far?" Linda asked, and Alex shrugged.

"They took almost two liters of my blood." He said, "I think some of them actually plan to try cloning me."

Linda chuckled, and she asked him: "Do you know why Jeff is calling us?"

"Well, in what comes to Jeff, it could be nearly anything." Alex said as the elevator moved. "You know that sometimes ifs hard to follow the way that he thinks."

Soon, the elevator dinged as they arrived in the third floor, where Jeff's current room was. They walked out of the hallways, and they walked in direction to the room that they had separated for him.

Upon arriving, they heard voices.

"- you can't just hack into the intercom system and use it to make calls."

"Well, I don't have a carrot phone… yet."

"So use the phone in your room."

"Have you seem my size?"

"Hi there!" Alex said as they walked in, and they arrived just in time for seeing Jeff in the room with two security guards who were a tiger and a bear.

"Oh, hi guys!" Jeff said to them with his small and squeakily voice, but that still carried quite a power. "Good thing you came! I just have some news that I think you two will like! So, would you mind giving us some space? This conversation is kind of only between me and them."

The guard looked at the mouse, and then at the two mammals who had just arrived. He sighed, and said: "This conversation ain't over". He turned around and left, the bear following him soon after, and as they closed the door, Alex turned to his rodent friend.

"You hacked into their intercom system?"

"I used pieces of one of the televisions they brought and some material from the room, it was surprisingly easy, actually, their system is a bit primitive in here. But, this is not the case, as I said, I have some news to share with both of you, and I think you will need to consider it important."

"Is about how we ended up in this world?" Alex asked as they approached.

"No."

"It has to do with where we can find the others?"

"I'm still working on that, but no."

"Is a way that we could return to our home?"

"Until I found out how exactly we ended up in here, definitely no."

"Then what is so important?" Alex asked him, as both he and Linda looked at the mouse, who smiled at them, and said:

"I got you two a home."

This really surprised the two, who shared a look before looking back at the mouse.

"Wait, are you serious?" Linda asked him, and Jeff just nodded.

"Absolutely. This hospital looks like a very good place to be, but you have to agree that it is not like the kind of place where you two could live indefinitely. I mean, you two obviously need a place for yourselves, somewhere you two can have your privacy so they don't go thinking that you are at their complete disposal at every single moment. So, I went forward and found a place for you two to call home, because I am a really good friend."

"Yeah, our really good friend could have told us that he was trying to find a home for us." Alex said and Jeff simply shrugged.

"Well, I assumed that you two already had enough problems, and so I decided to take it all on my own… diminutive paws, so to speak." He said, showing them his tiny hands. "Anyway, I was able to provide when I started to work yesterday. I was able to find a good place for you to stay, and I also found one for myself."

"That is a lot of efficiency." Alex said.

"You know me." Jeff said back to him. "Either I do things right or I don't do them."

"Well…" Linda said.

"Lets not go there, please." Jeff said to her.

"Anyway, where is this 'new home' you found for us?"

"Oh, it is a place here in Savannah Central, actually, a bit closer to the area of Downtown. It is a nice place and for a very reasonable price. The apartment is not very good, but it is said to be quite cozy. I mean, I haven't seen it, but that add in the internet spoke well of it."

"Wait, 'apartment'? As in just one?" Linda asked.

"Yeah, pretty much." Jeff said, and there was a silence as Linda and Alex looked at each other.

"Oh, come on, you two are not really doing  _that_  are you?" Jeff asked to them, sounding annoyed more than anything. "Come guys, you have been dating for what? One year and three months? You already did pretty much everything that mammals who are dating do, and I'm talking both of the dating and the more 'intimate' part."

Linda and Alex both blushed at this.

"So, I assume that living together is the kind of natural step for both of you, since it looks like you two are really serious, right? I hope so, because I got practically everything set in with the landlady and she already booked  _one_  apartment for two mammals, and I don't want to call her telling her to change it to two."

The mammals shared a look, and it was almost as if they were having a silent conversation.

Well, Jeff did had a point. They were dating for a long time, and they were serious and firm. So, if that was the case, then moving together was indeed the next logical step. Of course, neither of them had really stopped to think or discuss that lately, but now that they were in there, they were realizing that it was maybe something they should already be doing.

"Well, I'll try if you try." Alex said, reaching out to hold her hooved hand. She smiled, and held his hand back.

"Yeah, it can be fun."

"So, we have this settled!" Jeff said, and he looked at the two. "Now, all that is left to do is to gather your stuff, tell the guys you are moving and go to your new house!"

"What, you mean now?" Linda said.

"I got everything taken care off. The apartment already has furniture, and the landlady is quite nice, despite having clearly some attitude. In fact, she is ready to give you the apartment as soon as you two come in there today. You only need to pay in the end of the month, so I guess that you two can work something out."

When Jeff said that, he brought to attention another important detail.

"That is right! We don't have jobs yet!" Alex said, "I mean, we can't pay until we have jobs, and we will also need money for food. We will have to search for jobs, and this is not the kind of thing that… you already took care of it too, right?" He said when he saw the smile that Jeff had on his furry muzzle.

"I looked into some posts in the internet, looked here and there, made a few calls. I'm still waiting for the return of the employee, but I think he will accept both of you." Jeff said to them, and he added. "Now, we can start to pack and tell the others we will be moving out. All the three of us."

* * *

After that, Alex and Jeff both were going to talk with doctor Moosard, while Linda was packing the few things that Alex and her had with them (most of it has been provided by their new friends, who gave them new food and also a few things as a gift), while she was having a conversation with Judy in "MuzzleTime".

"So, you are all moving out of the hospital?" The bunny in her police uniform said as she looked at the image of the gazelle in her own cellphone.

"Yeah, Jeff kind of took care of everything after yesterday."

"He found you all a new home in a day?" Judy asked, sounding like she was genuinely impressed.

"Yeah, he is good at this kind of thing." Linda said, "Sometimes it seems that he is always one or two steps ahead of everyone…. I still would have liked him to talk with us about this before booking that apartment for us."

"Yeah, I got you." Judy said, "Where are you two moving to, anyways?"

"Oh, some place here in Savannah Central. I think the name is… 'Grand Arms of the Pang… or something."

"Wait." Judy said, "Grand Pangolin Arms?"

"Yeah, that is the place!" Linda said.

"Oh my god! What are the odds of this?" Judy said a smile forming in her lips, and Linda looked at her.

"Do you know the place?"

"If I know? I live in there! That is my building!"

"You're kidding!" Linda said as she looked at the bunny on the other end of the line of MuzzleTime, and Judy just smiled at her.

"What apartment are you staying in?"

"I think it is 014, on the first floor."

"Mine is 010! On the same floor! We are gonna be neighbors!" Judy said, sounding more and more excited as she spoke. "Man, this is great!"

"Woah… talk about coincidences." Linda said more to herself than to Judy, and she wondered just what were the chances of the apartment that Jeff found to them was in the same building and even on the same floor…

"So, when are you moving in?"

"Today. Actually, I just finishing packing our stuff… Jeff really took care of all the rest." Linda said to the bunny, as she finished packing a few more pairs of intimate clothing in the baggage. Those had actually been a gift from Judy, who went with her to buy her fresh clothes, since she didn't had any when she first arrived there in Zootopia.

"Woah… He really  _is_  efficient." Judy said, "So, starting today we are officially neighbors?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Great! So, I'll pass on your home later today when I'm clear off the duty. We will make a little party to celebrate! I'll take some snacks!" Judy said, and a red head of a fox popped in the corner of the screen as Nick's voice could be heard.

"Oh, party and snacks? Count me in!"

Both women chuckled at the comedic fox, and Judy said, "Well, then it is decided. We meet tonight in your new apartment. See you tonight, neighbor." Judy said, and Linda nodded at her, and they both hung their phones, and Linda was left alone with her thoughts.

"Is it actually a coincidence?" Linda asked to herself as she continued to pack the things in the two small suitcases. They didn't really had much, only a few pairs of shirts and pants for Alex, and a few blouses and skirts and one single dress for herself, as well as a few possessions that they had acquired since they arrived in there.

They would need to buy new clothes when they had the chance…

* * *

"So, are you two really moving to an apartment?" Doctor Moosard asked, "Because there is absolutely no problem in you two staying in here for a longer time."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that all of the scientists in here would love if their subjects were to remain in the hospital where they can easily have access to them." Jeff said, "But, I guess that it is better if Linda and Alex have their own space now. You know, having some place that they can really call 'home'."

"Yeah, he got a point in there." Alex said, "We kind of need a place for ourselves."

"It's okay. I understand." Doctor Moosard said, "Well, in this case." He pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from his pocket, and noted some numbers in it. "This is my personal phone number." He said, as he handed the piece of paper to Alex. "If you have any problem, or if you need anything, do not hesitate to call me."

"Thanks." Alex said, taking the number, "You have really been nice to us in the last days."

"Well, you were my patient, and I had to care for you, it is the job of a doctor, right?" The doctor said, as if it was something that he usually would do for anyone. Alex was able to smile at him, and soon, he was saying.

"Well, I gotta go see if Linda is done packing." He said, and he bid a quick farewell to Moosard, who walked away to look into other patients and into some other important schedules in the hospital.

"What a cool guy." Alex said, and Jeff agreed with him.

"Yeah, indeed. Let me take a look in this number, I'd like to keep in touch with him." Jeff said.

"So, we need to leave right now?"

"Yeah, before the other scientists find out we are leaving and try to convince us otherwise." Jeff said, "I just hope Moosard don't run into any of them and tell that we are leaving…"

"Do you really think they would try to prevent us from leaving the hospital for us to stay here and be studied?" Alex asked the mouse that was on his shoulder as he continued to walk with the help of the crutch.

"Yeah, I do think so." He spoke, and looked at Alex, "Twelve years ago, it was something that  _I_  would have done…"

* * *

Soon Linda had their luggage ready, and they were getting out of the hospital, as quickly and quietly as they could (because Jeff  _insisted_  for them to do so), and soon, they were taking a "Zuber" that would take them to the places where they needed to go. First, it would leave Jeff in the place where  _he_  would have his new home, and then it would take Linda and Alex straight to their new home into the Grand Pangolin Arms.

To pay for the Zuber, they would resort to the money that Alex "made" on his first day in Zootopia.

"You haven't forgot your old skills, by what I see." Jeff mentioned when he brought up the money. Alex himself could only blush as he looked away. Indeed, he had kept the money that he "made" when coming to Zootopia. It had been given back to him soon after the events with Rhinehart. They probably assumed that the money was his', and with all of the things that had happened ever since, everybody seemed to have forgotten that Alex was even accused of having stolen that money, and that a police officer was the witness of this. Alex didn't say anything about it, and eventually everybody forgot about the money, up until that moment.

Linda was giving him a glare because of this.

Still, they eventually forgot about the money, as they now focused in telling the one who was their Zuber where they should go. This one was proving to be a challenge, for the driver was a giraffe, and there was a "big" difference in height due to that.

Alex could hardly disguise his surprise in seeing that absurdly tall car come to them and stop, and upon entering, he was greet with the sight of a literal giraffe of a driver. Luckily, they were able to avert any commentaries or any situation of the like as he gave to him his first address: "the main gate of Little Rodentia".

The driver, whose name was "Jeremy" soon was driving them away from the hospital and across the city. They all were sitting in the back seat, with Jeff sitting in Linda's hand with his little luggage, and they were talking.

"So, this 'Little Rodentia' is somewhere inside the city?" The gazelle asked.

"Indeed." Jeff said to her. "It is a whole infrastructure build in for mammals of rodent size to life into and even work without having to take the risk of being stepped on by the bigger species of mammals. A literal 'city inside a city'. Quite clever, if you ask me, and interesting. Little Rodentia is the place of this kind here in Savannah Central. There is one on each district."

Linda nodded at this, and so did Alex. It made sense that the little guys of the city would need a place where they could live without risking to have someone come and maybe step on them, with their big feet. Alex even wondered if there were cases like that around the city as a whole, considering the mammals with so many different sizes that existed in there.

It took around ten minutes of travel in the Zuber, but the car eventually stopped, and Jeremy turned his head to them and told them. "Okay, here we are."

"Thank you, my friend! Linda, do you mind?" Jeff said, and Linda, as for his request, opened the door (it had special handles for mammals of most sizes to be able to open it), and she helped Jeff to walk outside, and she could see the "Little Rodentia".

It was indeed a city, and it had buildings that were truly miniature versions of the city that was Zootopia. Linda was able to see them through the tall fence that surrounded the perimeter of that miniature city, and in the bottom of the fence, right in front of them, she could see a small gate that actually had the saying " **LITTLE RODENTIA** " in it. She could see rodents moving in and out of the city. Most of them were dressed as if they were ready for a day out or to go to work in the big Zootopian city.

"As you can see, it is a nice place." Jeff said, "You can put me in the ground now, I'll fix myself from here."

Linda looked at him as she lowered her hooved hand to allow Jeff to jump out of it and into the concrete ground.

"Are you sure that you don't want to live with us?" Linda said.

"Nah, I need my own space too, and I think I got an apartment that will do for now, at least until I can find something better." Jeff said as he jumped to the ground. "Anyway, I think that you two will want a little privacy for yourselves without a little mouse like me playing the 'peeping tom', or would it be, the 'peeping  _jerry_ '?" He asked, moving his eyebrows in a suggesting way.

Linda looked at him for a few moments, and she blushed, as she knew perfectly well what the diminutive mammal was talking about.

"Anyway, I'll keep on touch." He said as he picked his luggage and looked at her, "I'll give you a return yet today about that job thing I have provided for you, don't lose your phone." He said and he waved at her, and Linda waved back as he walked in direction to that diminutive city that would be his new home.

Linda looked at him, and just after he disappeared into the small gate, she went back inside and closed the door. Alex had been looking over her shoulder as she and Jeff talked, and he too felt a bit of a blush forming on his face (he hoped that the fur on his head now helped hide it better), and he looked as the rodent disappeared inside of Little Rodentia (… oh! Now he got the name!).

"So, I guess that we can't really go to visit his home now, can we?" Alex said, and Linda shrugged, and she turned to Jeremy.

"Okay, now lets go to the next address, that one will be our stop."

"Right away, miss." The giraffe said with a smile, and he hit the gas as he accelerated in direction to their next stop. The windows were all the way up there, so they could not look through them to see the city moving, but they could feel the car moving, and they assumed safely that they were now moving in direction to their new home.

It took around another fifteen minutes of driving, but they finally arrived as the Zuber pulled in front of the place. "Here we are!" Jeremy announced. "Apartment complex Grand Pangolin Arms. That will be 75.46, please."

"Kind of expensive." Linda said, and Alex was already separating the money from the buddle that he had.

"Wow, that is a lot of money." Jeremy said, "I'm not sure if it is safe to walk with all of that in your pocket."

"Well, I don't have a credit card and neither a bank account yet, so I have to keep my money at hand." Alex answered as he counted the money. "I mean, I just got in this city a little over a week ago."

"Oh, so you arrived in time for…" Jeremy started to say, but he stopped when he actually took a good look in Alex. "Wait…"

"Thank you for that, and keep the change." Alex said, handing him eighty zoolars and moving out of the car.

"Thanks for that, Jeremy." Linda said, and soon they both were getting out of the Zuber car and they were now looking at the front of what would be their new home. The place was an apartment complex that stood around four, maybe five stores high. Well, at least it looked like that due to the height, but the windows from the third floor onwards looked as if they got smaller. Other than that, the building seemed like you would expect from a regular apartment complex in an area of the city like that. It looked actually very similar to the buildings that were right by the side, except for the shade that it used for the bricks that made the front of the building. Alex even took a moment to look, so he would not confuse the buildings.

"Well, it seems that it is here." Linda said, and they both walked forward carrying their small luggage as the Zuber that brought them in there started to move away, but not before Jeremy gave a good look at the two mammals that he had transported…

They climbed the steps and Linda knocked on the door.

They waited just for a few moments before the door opened, and an armadillo woman, with glasses on her face and wearing a blouse, a jacket and a skirt, greeted them. She looked up at them, and she asked: "How may I help you?"

"Hmmm." Linda said, "Misses… Dharma Armadillo?"

"Yes?"

"We are Thompson and Hunter." Linda said, gesturing at herself and Alex, "We are here because we will rent an apartment.

The armadillo looked up at her for a few seconds, before saying: "Oh, yes, yes. The mammals who will be renting apartment 014. Please, come in and follow me." She said as she opened the door and the two mammals walked inside. As soon as they were in, the armadillo closed the doors, and she started to guide them inside the building as she gestured around.

"Grand Pangolin Arms is a place that has some regulations. For instance, no loud music after eleven, since there are many tenants in here that need to work and so require a good night sleep." She said as she guided them to the stairs. "There are also some other regulations, for instance, any kind of change in the apartments must have an advance request with a minimum of one week advance. So, if you, for instance, want to change the wallpaper or paint the walls you will need to send in a memo requesting it and the request will be analyze." She said as they climbed the stairs, Alex had some difficulty due to his clutch. "However, this is only for your own apartment, since it is strictly forbidden doing any alterations in the public areas of the building, like the hallways or the bathroom."

"Wait, this place has a public bathroom?" Alex asked as they climbed.

"Yes. I suggest you to come to terms with the other tenants on how to use it. They have an unofficial rule of only ten minutes to each mammal on any single use. Of course, you can negotiate with them if you want."

The two mammals shared a look, and they continued to walk up the stairs as the armadillo lady continued. "There are also other rules that you two will need to follow, but you two seem like you want to just get to your apartment and relax, so I'll provide a memo with a list later on." She said as she guided them to the first floor, and they both started to walk into a hallway that had doors on each side, and they walked until one door of wood that had a faded "014" printed in it, and the armadillo woman fished in her pocket for a key that had the same number in it. She placed it in the door and unlocked it, opening the door.

"So, welcome to the Grand Pangolin Arms." She said as she gestured to their new apartment, in which the two mammals took a look inside.

They were not exactly thrilled by what they saw.

The "apartment" in question had a single room in there, and it wasn't the kind you would expect in a luxurious building. The room was narrow, around fourteen feet long for ten feet wide, and around sixteen feet tall on the ceiling. It was decorated very modestly, with some old wallpaper, and the "furniture" of the place were basically one bed, a small desk, with a lamp in it, a mini freezer, a microwave, a shelve above the bed, and a single mirror resting against the wall, and it had a crack on it.

"This is our apartment?" Alex asked as he looked inside, and he even ventured to look inside. Linda followed him soon suit, and as they looked, Armadillo continued to talk:

"Yep, a nice apartment for a good price." Dharma said, "Flea and tick removal once every two months…"

"Wait, fleas?"

"Ticks?"

"First payment one week from now." She finished, and walked to Linda, offering her something. "Here is your key. Don't lose it, I mean it!" She said, and Linda hesitated for a moment before taking it.

"Welcome and have a good staying." She said and she walked out, before closing the door, and leaving the two mammals in their new home… Or, what was supposed to be their new home…

The two mammals looked around. Alex tested the bed, and he saw that it was unsteady and that it was screeching as the springs underneath seemed to almost be rusty. The bed itself was actually a bit small, and Linda and Alex would have to cradle together if they wanted to sleep in there.

Linda, on her end, passed a hand in the wall, and saw that it was a bit greasy.

They shared a look, and soon, they heard a sound coming from the wall. Or rather, from the apartment that was just next to theirs…

"BUCKY! HAVE YOU SEEM MY WALLET!?"

"IT IS PROBABLY UNDER THE BED! NOT LIKE YOU WOULD BOTHER SEARCHING UNDER IT, ANYWAY!"

"OH, NOT THIS AGAIN! YOU KNOW I HAVE TO WORK!"

"OH, SO I JUST STAY IN HOME ALL DAY DOING NOTHING!?"

"CAN WE PLEASE NOT START THIS NOW!?"

"YOU WERE THE ONE WHO LOST YOUR WALLET!"

"OH, SHUT UP!"

"NO, YOU SHUT UP!"

"NO, YOU SHUT UP!"

"NO, YOU SHUT UP!"

As the owners of these voices, who were both male, told each other to "shut up", these orders were punctuated by what seemed to be someone hitting the wall, and hard. This startled the two mammals., who shared a look, and soon Linda was knocking at the wall with her hoof.

"Hey, is everything alright in there!?"

"Who is this?"

One of the voices asked from the other side.

Linda looked at Alex, and after a second or so, she said:

"Hmmm, hi? I'm Linda, my boyfriend and I just moved in and… we heard you two screaming." She said, and soon the answer came.

"Yeah, we are loud!" The voice said back, "And we won't apologize for that!"

Linda was a bit taken back by this, and she looked at her boyfriend, who looked at her with very much the same expression, as the voices resumed.

"Hey, don't be so rude! She is new and she got worried by two mammals screaming!"

"Well, now she knows that we are loud!"

"Yeah, and we made a bad first impression! That is why most of the neighbors won't talk to us!"

"Yeah, that is why!"

"You know what a mean!"

"OF COURSE I KNOW! I'M NOT STUPID!"

"OH, SHUT UP!"

"NO, YOU SHUT UP!"

"NO, YOU SHUT UP!"

"NO,  _YOU_  SHUT UP!"

"NO, YOU SHUT UP!"

Linda and Alex stood in silence as they heard that going on for a few moments, and then Alex said to Linda:

"I'm going to kill Jeff."

* * *

That bickering and screaming contest between their new neighbors lasted for a while, and once it was over, there was only silence, even though they were sure that one of them had stayed at home. After that, Linda and Alex stayed in the place that was their new home.

The place was not exactly fancy, but it was somewhat cozy, except for the fact that it was small.

"How much it costs in here?" Alex asked Linda, and the answer came from the wall.

"Around two hundred zollars a month!"

It was one of the neighbors, and this startled a bit the two mammals.

"The walls are pretty thin, aren't they?" Linda asked, and Alex rolled his eyes.

"Too much for privacy."

The cougar got up, "I'll go take a shower." He said, and searched in their luggage to find his towel, a dryer, and a new change of clothes, and he went off walking in direction to the door, and he was just praying that the bathroom had a better condition than the shoebox that they called apartment.

Linda was left alone in the apartment, and she looked at the wall. She hesitated for a moment, but he knocked in it.

"What is it!?" The voice on the other end asked, and Linda took a moment to answer.

"I… I just want to talk a bit." She said, and the voice remained silent for a moment. So, Linda continued. "You know, we just moved in here and we are not really sure on what to expect. So, living here is nice?"

"Oh, it is a bit!" The voice said, "When Pronk took me here and said that we would live in here I was like 'are you freaking kidding me!?' but the place is actually nice! It is small and easy to clean! Not the mention that the rent is pretty good, and we got some money to spare for a movie and dinner sometimes!"

"Right." Linda said, and she asked, "And you and Pronk are… you know, close?"

"Well, we are!" The voice said, "It would be strange we two being married and not being close!"

"Oh!" Linda said, "I see, well, I barely know you two, but you seem like an interesting couple…"

"Yeah, we get that a lot! I'm Bucky, by the way!"

"I'm Linda."

"Yeah, you already said that!"

"So, the thing of screaming… you two do that a lot?"

"Yeah, nearly all the time!" Bucky said from his end of the wall. "This is kinda how we are! You get used to it after a day or two!"

Linda had some doubts about that, but she refrained from saying that.

"So, how long have you two lived in here?"

"Around five years! Pronk says that this place is all that we need, but I still hope that we can change for something a bit bigger! Maybe a place with a balcony! Or at least a private bathroom!"

"Yeah, it sounds nice." Linda said, and she searched for something else to say, and she asked: "So, what is Pronk like? I mean, when he is not in a hurry and is not being loud?"

"You mean; we he is not being a jerk?" Bucky asked, and Linda shrugged.

"Yeah, is he nice? Is he romantic?"

"Yeah, sometimes." Bucky said, "Just yesterday he took me to dinner in a place to celebrate the day we met each other." He sounded actually a bit dreamt as he said that. "We ate some nice food and danced in the rhythm of the first song we ever danced together."

"Oh, that is so romantic!" Linda said, "Pronk really seems like a sweet guy."

"Pronk!? Hah! No way! He is a cranky, loud, antisocial jerk!" Bucky said from the other side of the wall. After a few moments, he added: "But he is  _my_  cranky, loud, antisocial jerk." The dreamy tune was in there once more, and Linda was actually able to chuckle a little at that.

These new neighbors seemed to be really interesting…

* * *

Alex had just finished bathing, and he was currently using a dryer to dry his fur. Alex had got used to this aspect of this world, which was all of the mammals using either towels or some hair dryers to dry their fur after bathing. He had got used with that, as well as with the mammals in there using fur shampoo instead of soap when they bathed.

The shampoo thing was not that big of a deal, but the drying of the fur was proving to be quite a challenge. It was a bit like drying hair, but now it was on the whole body. Alex even noticed some places that had giant blowers that helped to dry the whole body. It seemed not the case of this building, not the Alex actually expected this, as he already noticed just how humble the place was.

"Considering the price of this place, I guess I should not be surprised." Alex said to himself, and he continued to dry himself. Of course he just didn't have to dry his leg, once he avoided getting it wet due to the wound in it that was still healing and the bandages covering said wound. Still, he washed as much of his body as he could, and drying his fur was quite a challenge, but he managed to do that with both a towel and a dryer.

After he was done, Alex just put in a new set of clothing (he still had some problems to fit his tail in the hole) and he walked out with his towel under his arms and his other arm holding the crutch for him to be able to walk.

Upon arriving, he met Linda organizing their things over the desk that they had in the room. She was putting her and his' clothes in the drawers of the desk, while some of their little possessions were left on top of it. Her cellphone was also in there, and it was now recharging with a new charger that Judy had provided to her.

"So, we are really staying here?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, I guess so. At least for now." Linda said, "I'm putting mine on the top drawer and yours in the one right below it." She said to him, as their clothes were  _floating_  in the air and landing safely in the drawers, which closed on their own with gestures of her hooved hands. "Maybe we can get a vase of flowers to put in the window." She said, "You know, give it more of a 'home, sweet home' look."

Alex smiled at her. "Yeah, maybe Jeff should have taken us to look at this home before renting it for us. You know, maybe checking on the neighbors."

"You know; I think they are actually nice." Linda said, and a voice said from the wall.

"Yeah, we really are. Well, when you know us, I mean." Bucky said, and Alex looked at the wall.

"This place really costs two hundred a month? It seems a bit overpriced." Alex said, looking around, and he added: "I mean, it is small, the walls are thin, and the bed seems to need a little fixing."

"Yeah, I know that is not the best." Linda said, "But I guess that for the first home that you and I share, it is actually pretty nice." She said, "And I guess that it has just the privacy that we need… if we keep it down." She added the last one in a whisper on his ear, and Alex could feel his ears heating at the way that Linda spoke. He knew exactly what she was talking about, and he cleared his throat being a little uncomfortable.

"Soooo, we already made ourselves at home in here, and we pretty much know the house already… What do you say of we getting out and maybe knowing the neighborhood?"

Linda smiled at her boyfriend, and she said, "Sounds nice. Actually, it would be a good chance for you to take me on a date. We haven't had one in a while."

"I know a place just two blocks from here that is actually pretty nice!" Bucky said through the wall. "They have a great salad in there!"

Alex looked at the wall. Linda, on her end, just asked: "It is the place Pronk took you yesterday?"

"Yeah, the very same! They also serve predators in there, so you and your boyfriend can have lunch in there together! They also have a nice dancefloor! Do you know how to dance, Hunter?"

Alex was left a bit speechless as he saw one of their new neighbors getting so intimate with him after they just move in. Linda, on the other hand, just chuckled at the expression on her boyfriend's face, and she leaned in, saying to him. "That is Bucky, one of the neighbors. You will know him soon enough."

* * *

After that, Linda and Alex both walked out of their room so they could go to some other place to have some food and maybe a dinner. During their walk, they had the chance to look around the neighborhood. It was actually pretty nice and cozy, and it was a welcoming place, with brick walls and with closed windows, but mammals walked on the streets and complimented themselves as they walked. Linda and Alex both walked in there as they held hands, Alex did the best he could, since he had to use his other arm to hold on the crutch that was helping him walk. Still, he was able to hold Linda's hand as they both walked, both with disguises to avoid being recognized.

Alex had a jacket with a hood, and Linda once more had a handkerchief over her head and a pair of sunglasses. These were quite lame for a disguise, but they did the trick. Still, Alex could not avoid but notice the looks they were getting from the animals that they passed by. Most of them were curious, some were surprised, and others actually almost seemed to be looks of outrage. These last ones made Alex the most uncomfortable of all, still, no one said a word to them or paid them too much mind as they just continued on their way.

After walking for nearly two blocks, the two lovers were able to reach for a place that had the name of: " ** _DIVINE WATERING HOLE_** ". It was a place that looked as if it was the kind of place where you could have some decent meal, and it had colorations of red and orange in the front, and the inside was visible through the open front with glass windows of the restaurant place. It was possible to see the tables of the place, as well as a what seemed to be a dancefloor in the back.

As the two mammals went inside, they were able to hear the sound of music playing in the background, and they could even spot a few mammals dancing in the floor, even though most seemed to be more focused on eating their food. Most of the ones eating were prey species, but it was also possible to sight some predators among them.

Alex and Linda were soon searching for a table of their own, and soon someone came to greet them and to ask them what they wanted to eat.

Alex asked for some grilled fish, while Linda asked for then vegetarian linguine. The moose waiter took note and asked them to wait so their orders would be brought in shortly.

As they waited, the two mammals stayed in the table as they waited for the orders to arrive, they ordered some juice and both drank it as they talked. Most of it were small jokes and some comments that probably would make sense only for them. Still, they were careful with what they said, once they didn't want to attract too much attention from the other animals in there.

Still, it seemed that the animals in there were actually paying attention to them. Well, some of them were. Alex could almost feel their eyes on him, and he had a feeling that one or two of them were actually talking about them. Could it be that they were recognized? Alex was not sure of it, but he wanted to ignore it and focus on Linda. It was far too long since they had a chance of romance, and this was a chance that he was not willing to pass just because there was someone paying attention to them.

Once their food arrived, both of the mammals ate, and they continued with their talk, and in the meantime, they also had a lot of chances to hold hands and to trade a few loving words. It was nice to have a chance on a real date like that again, and it didn't matter that the other animals were looking at them, as they were more worried with each other than with the ones that surrounded them.

After the food was done, they ordered the desert, a single bowl of vanilla ice cream that they both shared. It was one of those magical moments that people who are dating always talk about, and the two mammals enjoyed it. Bucky was right, the ice cream in there was great.

After they were done, they ordered the bill, and once it was paid, they both started to walk out, once more holding hands while Alex was using the crutch to be able to walk. As they walked, Alex's sensitive feline ears were able to catch the end of a conversation.

"Man, do you believe this?" A voice whispered. "A gazelle and a cougar? Man, it is wrong."

"Come, dude, just let them alone. They are not hurting anyone."

"It is against the laws of nature."

"Come on dude, just let them be. It is not our business."

The owner of the other voice scoffed, and he said, "I'm just glad that they are leaving and I don't have to look at them anymore. It is just wrong."

Alex's ear twitched as he heard that. He looked over his shoulder and could see the owner of that voice, he was a big rhino, and the one talking to him was a reindeer. Alex narrowed his eyes at him, and moved a single furred finger in his hand with the crutch. A small lightning jumped from his finger and traveled to the rhino, hitting him just into a part of his hide that was exposed.

The rhino immediately let out a yelp as he jumped out of the chair, startling the others who were around.

Alex smiled at himself as he and Linda continued to walk, until he noticed that Linda was looking at him.

He was a big bashful for a moment, when Linda said, "Alex, this was childish and mean." The cougar looked down for a few moments, until his girlfriend also added. "But that guy surely deserved it." She had a small smile on her face, and Alex smiled back at her.

"I mean, saying that we can't date just because of our species? It is just like saying we can't do something because of what we can do. It is pure prejudice." Linda said as they both walked, and Alex was forced to agree.

"Let's go somewhere else. We need to take that jerk away from our minds." Alex said, as they were now walking out of the restaurant and to another place. After all, since they had just moved, it make sense they would walk to know their new neighborhood. Besides, it was still a date.

They mostly walked around their neighborhood, getting to know the place and looking around at the places that were near their home. Most of it were either houses or buildings, and the rest consisted in commercial places, like places for eat and also stores that sold things. It even had a drugstore not too far away from their land, and they also passed by a few stands. One of them had written " ** _DUKE'S LEGITIMATE MOVIES_** " or something of the like, with a weasel trying to convince others to buy his movies, which Alex had the strong suspicious that were actually pirate copies.

They passed by him and continued to walk, and they stopped a lot of times to sit and enjoy the environment around them, often stopping in a bench and sitting so they could just sit in there and enjoy each other's company. They still attracted eyes as they sat and held hands, but they already knew how to ignore this kind of looks. They just continued their stroll for a few hours, and the coloration of the sun was changing as the day went by.

They even made a few purchases as they went by, namely, a few flowers that Alex bought for Linda, and also a vase of flowers where they would put the flowers once they got home. Other than that, it was what someone would expect from a date, with the two enjoying each other's company. These things that couples usually did when they were together.

The afternoon was already ending once they both walked back to their home, and they even passed by a pizzeria to buy something that could be their dinner. Once they returned home, Linda was already fixing he flowers that Alex gave her in the vase with water. It was put on the window, and it gave the apartment a little cozier appearance (at least in Linda's opinion).

"The neighborhood in here is actually nice." Linda said as she finished fixing the flowers.

"Yeah, the only problem is the apartment." Alex said, and Linda was forced to agree with him.

_Knock, knock_

The sound of someone knocking on the door made them stop and look at each other. Linda was the one who went to open it. Upon opening, she looked around and saw no one. That was when a voice said.

"Hey, neighbor."

She looked down, and saw a familiar bunny in police officer outfit.

"Oh, Judy, hi!" Linda said to her bunny friend. She had forgotten about their little plan of making a little party to celebrate the new crib.

"So, are you ready to make a little party?" Judy asked, "Nick will be on his way shortly, and he will be bringing something to drink."

"Great, we already have pizza. Half vegetarian, half cricket." Linda said, and Alex looked at them as they talked.

"Sorry, there is going to be a party?" Alex asked to the two females, and Linda looked at him.

"Just a small reunion to inaugurate the new house. It will be fun." Linda said.

"Hey, can we participate?" Bucky's voice came from the other side of the wall, and soon after, the other voice came.

"Hey, you can't just ask like that! They will think we are intruding!"

"Oh, come on! We are just trying to be good neighbors! We will bring something to help with the party! Maybe those sandwiches in the fridge!"

"That is for my lunch tomorrow!"

"Come on, just offer a few of them! Besides, you need to go easy on the sandwiches, you are starting to put on weight!"

"Oh, shut up!"

"No, YOU shut up!"

"NO, YOU SHUT UP!"

"NO, YOU SHUT UP!"

The other animals looked at the wall, and Judy could not avoid saying.

"So, I guess you two already know the Oryx-Antlersons." She had a smile as she met them, and Linda nodded.

"Yeah, they are both some figures."

"I'll say." Alex added, and Linda said:

"And yes, boys, you are both invited!"

"Thanks, Linda!" Bucky answered "See? They are actually nice, even though you are rude!"

"You are as rude as me!"

"Oh, shut up!"

"No, you shut up!"

"So, I guess this is it." Judy said, as the couple of neighbors continued their rambling, "Nick will be on in ten minutes and I have to change my clothes. Put on something a little more comfortable. See you soon."

"We will be waiting." Linda said as the bunny waved, and Linda closed the door. It seemed that Bucky and Pronk were still bickering at each other, and this time it was about the sandwiches. Linda looked at Alex, and she smiled. "Well, it seems that the day is going well." She said, and Alex was about to answer, when her phone started to ring, indicating it had a call.

The two mammals shared a look, and Linda reached for her phone. It was receiving a call in MuzzleTime. Linda accepted, and soon, she was looking at the face of a familiar mouse.

"Oh, Jeff!" Linda said, and Jeff complimented her back.

"Linda! So, are you and Alex liking your new home?"

"It is small and the bed screeches a lot, also, we have two neighbors who seem to like making shouting contests." Alex said, as Linda looked at him, and soon, she was sitting by his side while they looked back at Jeff.

"Yeah, I imagined it would have a problem or two. Still, it is a good place to stay." Jeff said, "The price is reasonable, there are many places for eating and also convenience stores very close. It is also very close to a bus stop and to the subway." The mouse said, numbering the reasons why that place was a good place. The other mammals actually shared a look, and they had to agree that, now that they had knew the place a while, it actually seemed to be a very nice place to live. Still, Alex continued to wish the place was bigger, and that the walls were not that thin…

"So, we are nice and we are starting to get comfortable in the place. Actually, Judy and Nick are coming over for a small party." Linda said, "Along with our neighbors."

"Good. Very good." Jeff said, "I wish I could be in there, but I'm still taking care of a few things regarding my new home."

"So, you called only to see if we were doing okay in our new home?" Alex asked to the mouse through the phone.

"Yes." Jeff said, "And also to inform you that I have received a return about a new job for you two." He added, "The manager of the place just gave me a return and said that you two have an interview tomorrow."

"Oh, yeah, that." Alex said, having nearly forgot about the talk that Jeff had also found them some job.

"Yes, it will be tomorrow, at Herd Avenue between Treetop Street and Pride Street. You just have to search for 'Groomed Feathers & Polished Scales', and look for Lambert." Jeff explained to them.

"This is where we will be working?" Alex asked.

"If Lambert hires you."

"Well, by the name it is something related to birds and reptiles, right?" Linda asked.

"Yes, indeed." Jeff said to both of them, and the two animals nodded. They both had been wondering if there were birds and reptiles in that city, since the only animals that they had seen since they arrived were mammals. Of course, neither of them had been going out much since they arrived.

"So, what it is?" Alex said, "It is some kind of specialized spa?"

"I know the place!" Bucky said from the other end of the wall, surprising the animals who were on the other end, and looked at the wall behind them. "They are a pet shop that also gives beauty treatment to pets! They have some really cool things in there and they make a really good job! I went to there earlier today!"

"You went on that place again!? We already talked about this! We can't get a pet! We barely fit in this apartment, and it is against the regulations!"

"Oh, so I'm not allowed to dream anymore!?"

"Oh, shut up!"

"No,  _you_  shut up!"

"NO, YOU SHUT UP!"

"NO, YOU SHUT UP!"

These two animals continued to scream at each other to "shut up', and meanwhile, Alex and Linda absorbed what they had heard, and looked at each other as they said at the same time:

"Pet shop?"

"Yes." Jeff said from the cell phone. "A pet shop."

"Yeah, it's a pet shop!" Bucky shouted from across the wall.

* * *

Outside of the city, a single car was driving across the road. It was a sportive car of a red coloration and a very fancy design, the kind you would expect some rich dude to drive, and to use it mostly for show than for anything else, but the car still had quite a power in the drive. As it drove, the two mammals inside were having a small conversation.

"So, this 'Zootopia' is really all of that they say?" The first mammal said, and took a drink of beer as he sat on the passenger's seat.

"If half of what they say is true, then it is a nice place for anyone to start anew, like you and I are doing." He said, as he picked up a small thing from his pocket. It was filled with some kind of herb, and he just opened it with a single paw and put it close to his face, taking a deep sniff of the contents. He shuddered and let out a growling sound as he looked ahead at the street before them. "You will see, dude. With your powers, and my smarts, we are going to own that city."

The other mammal simply snorted, as he turned his head and continued to drink his beer, as he watched at the night sky that passed by them, and soon, the city that they were travelling to was becoming closer and closer. The car passed by a great sign in the road, in which read: " **WELCOME TO ZOOTOPIA – WHERE ANYONE CAN BE ANYTHING** ".

The car passed by it at high speed as the two mammals simply ignored the sign and continued to move in direction to the city.

After they were gone, the sign was left in the dark, with only the illumination that it had across the darkening sky. Moments passed, and soon, another car was coming.

This one was smaller, and it was of a less fancy model than the one that had come before, and it was somewhat of a more behaved style, being what some would classify as "economic", and it was driving inside the speed limit, unlike the other car, that was driving at a high speed. This car also had a less screaming coloration, being of a dull shade of grey. This one actually stopped in front of the sign, as the mammal who was driving took a look at the map.

This mammal put the head out and looked at the city in the distance, and at the great sign, taking a good look at the phrase that had been written along with the name.

With a raised eyebrow, the mammal said: "How tacky…" And put his head back in the car, before starting it again and driving in direction to the city…


	18. New Jobs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new day rises, and while the meta mammals prepare to try to get some jobs, Bogo has his own kind of job ready...

“Alex.” The familiar voice called somewhere in the distance.

The cougar groaned as he shifted his body on his sleep.

“Alex, wake up.” The voice called him again, this time closer and more insistent.

“Just five more minutes…” Alex mumbled on his sleep, and then he felt something nudging him hard on the side, as the owner of the voice said:

“Wake up, sleepy head!” Linda sounded annoyed as she said that, and Alex groaned as he got up from the bed.

“Okay, I’m awake! I’m awake!” He said as he stood in the bed. Linda was already up, and she had changed her clothes, as she had obviously bathed while Alex was still asleep. She had now opted for an indigo blouse and a pink skirt, which fit her very well. She looked at the cougar, and she said to him:

“It is nearly 7 o’clock, we need to arrive in there for our interview at 8:30. You need to bath and we both need to eat breakfast so we can get there in time.”

Alex looked at her for a few moments, blinking and wondering what she was talking about, that was when he remembered the job interview that Jeff had provided to them. Alex yawned, a yawn much bigger than he could when he was still human, and a lot toothier too, before he got up from the bed.

“Pronk and Bucky have already gone to the bathroom. I suggest you to go in there and wait for your turn, and take some clothes.” Linda said, and Alex simply nodded as he received some clothes on his arms, as well as his towel and as other few toiletries that he would need to start the day.

He had not yet completely woken up when he saw himself out of the “apartment” and was walking down the hallway in direction to the stairs and to the bathroom. He started to wish that the party of last night had not went till so late.

Their small reunion with Judy, Nick, and their two loud neighbors, had went on for a while, mostly because it seemed that everyone in there seemed to have something to talk about. Judy and Linda had already become good friends during the time they had been in Zootopia, and they seemed to have a lot to talk about. There were also the loud neighbors, who seemed to have a lot to say after they discovered that their new neighbor was the “lightning cougar” himself, that is, after they recovered from the shock (so to speak).

By the way, these two seemed to really be loud, as they seemed to be ready to start a screaming contest for nearly anything.

_“You needed to bring so many of my sandwiches?”_

_“You have too many of them! You will start to get fat if you eat that much!”_

_“The day is long and is tiring! And you know that I have a high metabolism!”_

_“So what, we should just barge in the party without being invited and without taking anything to them!? This is just too rude!”_

_“Ruder than asking through the wall if you could come to the party after eavesdropping about it!?”_

_“Oh, shut up!”_

_“No, you shut up!”_

_“NO, YOU SHUT UP!”_

_NO, YOU SHUT UP!”_

Man, those two truly were quite the figures.

“You have been taking too much time in there! Other mammals might come and want to use it!” A voice said as Alex walked down the stairs.

“I need time to polish my horns! I need to look presentable!” Said another voice, which sounded muffled, as if this one was talking through the other side of a door.

Speaking of the two devils…

“Why do you polish your horns every day!?” Bucky’s voice asked. “It even seem that you are going to a beauty contest! You are going to work behind the counter of a bar!”

“Oh, shut up!” Pronk said, and from that point on they started to scream at each other to “shut up”, as they usually did, and Bucky, who was in the outside, barely noticed Alex approaching him from behind.

At some point, they both resigned in this, and Bucky only stood in there with his arms crossed in front of his chest. It took a few moments for the kudu to notice that Alex was standing right behind him, and he jumped a little in surprise as he noticed the cougar.

“Good morning.” Alex said, still half-asleep and trying to wake up.

“Huhh, good morning…” the mammal with horns said, and he knocked at the door. “Pronk, I really think that you should speed up a little! Someone else just came!”

“Tell them to wait!” Pronk said behind the door.

“It is Hunter!” Bucky said to him. “I really think you should speed up a bit!”

“I’m taking my time! I know that you will be too!” Pronk said. “I don’t care if he is the lightning cougar!”

“Shhh! We promised the bunny girl we would not talk about that aloud!” Bucky said in a rushed tone to his husband in the other end of the door.

Indeed, just the last night, after the two had figured out who Alex and Linda were, Judy had made them both promise that they would keep this as low-profile as they could, which included avoiding to talk about it whenever they were screaming.

Apparently, Judy was worried about their safety, for it seemed that the lion guy, Grooms, was still trying to cause a ruckus about them in the city. Not to mention the presence of reporters and of “everyday wackos”, as Nick had put it. If they found out they had left the hospital and were living in there, the place could be swarmed by them, and this was something that they all wanted to avoid.

In fact, neither Alex nor Linda felt in mood for facing this kind of situation any time soon. So, the two promised to keep it hush-hush.

“Still, I’m not rushing this just because it is Hunter!” Pronk said from behind the door, and Alex could hear the sound of something that sounded like a machine in there, like a portable one.

“Come on, they are new on the building!” Bucky said, now slightly louder, as if to be heard above the buzzing of whatever machine was in there.

“So, what? I’m not going to let them have privileges on the bathroom just because of that!”

“Come on, they have a job interview today! They need to be ready and presentable to get a job!”

“Well, Hunter should have come with his girlfriend earlier to bath!”

“It is not his fault! They stayed up till late yesterday!”

“So did Linda, Hopps and the two of us! And none of us had trouble to wake up this morning! Hopps actually woke up before we all did!”

Alex rolled his eyes at this. It amazed him how no one else seemed to be having problems to wake up in that morning, considering that most of them had stayed up until past midnight chatting and watching the movies that Nick provided through “FurFlix”. Namely: “Rocky Bearboa” and “The Hibernant”, this later one starred by “Leonardo Dicapolar”.

Both Alex and Linda had already gotten used to the kind of things that they saw in Zootopia. The two movies actually were both pretty good.

“I can’t believe you guys never saw Rocky Bearboa!” Was what Nick had said when they mentioned that they never watched that movie. “I mean; it is a classic! Which planet did you two came from?”

Alex would have bitten his tongue to avoid answering that, but he was afraid that he would hurt it with his sharp teeth.

It took five more minutes, but soon Pronk came out of the bathroom, only for Bucky to enter right after him. They shared a very brief compliment, and Pronk went on is way. More ten minutes, and Bucky also got out, finally letting Alex use the bathroom, something for which the cougar felt really glad.

Alex let the cold water soak his body and shock him awake. He used his time to scrub his body and make a lot of foam with the shampoo. He took his time to dry himself up and to put on his fresh clothing, consisting into a pair of cream pants and a social shirt of blue coloration. Alex had already gotten used to walking barefoot, as well as walking with the crutch. Next, he brushed his teeth with his new toothbrush, and he also brushed his fur a bit, taking a lot of fur from his body. He was said that it was normal for felines to let fur go like that, and that was one of the reasons why they usually got hairballs. Alex was not willing to go through this experience.

Finally, he got out of the bathroom and saw a line of other tenants in there. Some small as a mouse and others surprisingly big. Alex simply gave them a brief “good day”, and walked back to his apartment, and he meet Linda in there, who had just finished fixing some breakfast (she picked the food that they had bought and heated it in the microwave). As soon as Alex came in, his own food was waiting for him, and it was some nice fish that Linda had bought.

During the breakfast, the two mammals put themselves to talk.

“So, the store is not very far from here, we can go and come back walking.” Linda said, and Alex nodded:

“Very nice.” He ate another forkful of the fish. “Do you think we need to work in there all formal? Or that there is a uniform?”

“Well, I’m not sure, I mean, the place is a pet shop…”

“Yeah…”

The two human-turned-animals were still trying to wrap their minds around the notion of a pet shop in a world dominated by talking animals.

“They have uniforms in there!” Bucky’s voice said from the other side of the wall. “They wear green clothing with white aprons, because they have to bath and groom the pets.”

The two mammals looked at the wall, and they shared a look among themselves.

“So, this place, the Groomed Feathers & Polished Scales, what kinds of pets they care for?” Linda asked

“Oh, all kinds! Iguanas, geckos, some of those tarantulas, chameleons, parrots, cockatoos! You name it they have it!” Bucky said, “I would love to have a cockatoo!”

“But you won’t!”

“Oh, shut up!”

“No, you shut up!”

“No, you shut up!”

As they continued on, Linda and Alex turned to each other and they seemed to be starting to get a grip on how things worked in there…

* * *

“So, Hunter and Thompson are really your neighbors now?” Bogo asked to Hopps, who was standing in the chair right in front of his desk, while the much bigger mammal was sitting in front of her on his own chair, and she had just put him in pair of all that they had went through since yesterday.

“Yessir.” She said to him. “They are now both residents of the Grand Pangolin Arms. It seems that Small has gotten new homes for them and for himself, and he even found them a job interview. The pet shop Groomed Feathers & Polished Scales, just a few blocks away from the building. They are probably heading there now.”

Bogo looked at her with a raised eyebrow, and he could already start to list his own worries about this whole situation. Starting with the fact that many mammals around the city were still on their toes about the Meta Mammals, and while not many of them were like Grooms (at least not openly), others of them bordered on creepy, as they seemed to have far too much interest into the meta mammals, that not to mention the amount of reporters that still searched for the chance of having an exclusive interview with them.

Bogo was having certain pickles with it, and he really wished that he had at least been informed before they decided to leave the hospital on their own. He had only found about that himself when he made a call to the doctor and he was informed that they had moved. Needless to say, he was not happy that such a decision was made without him being informed on the matter.

But then again, the meta mammals were still free to come and go, and there was nothing that he could do about that…

Save for managing the situation.

“Does anyone knows where they are?” Bogo asked.

“For now, only doctor Moosard, Officer Wilde, me, and my neighbors, the Oryx-Antlersons.” Judy said, “And they have agreed to keep it quiet to avoid calling unwanted attention to them.”

“Well, that is good.” Bogo said, “The last thing we want is this turning into a circus. We really need to keep their current whereabouts secret for now, at least until the craze have calmed down.”

Judy took a moment to think, and she said: “Sir, I’m not sure that this is going to happen anytime soon.”

She was right, and Bogo knew that. After all, the world had just discovered that there were mammals out there that possessed super powers. There were all kinds of reactions going on, not only on Zootopia, but in all the neighborhood of the place. Some were thrilled. Some were more than thrilled. Some were scared. Some mammals out there were actually going ballistic over all of that. The world changed in the moment that Alex Hunter had decided to use his powers in public, and there was little to no chance of the world going back to what it once was.

The craze was going to go on for a good time, and of that much Bogo was sure.

“Let’s… just keep this information as secret as we can. Let’s save these two from more attention than they are already receiving. They really need a time for themselves.” Bogo said, and Judy had to agree with him. These two had been through a lot lately, and they deserved a break, she was not sure how she would feel herself if she was in their place, but she knew that she would not feel so comfortable knowing that so many mammals had interest in her like that…

“By the way, what about Small?” Bogo asked to Judy, and she looked up at her boss as she said:

“By what they told me, he found himself a home too. Somewhere in Little Rodentia…”

* * *

As Judy and Bogo were saying it, somewhere in the downtown part of Little Rodentia, in a diminutive version of a three store building, there was a particular apartment that was being occupied by a mouse.

Jeff had just come out of the bathroom as he used three towels to dry his body, wanting to avoid any kind of fungus infection coming from having water and moist accumulating into his pelt. He read about that in some sites, and he didn’t want to face this kind of situation in his new state as a mouse.

The house he found for himself was a humble one, with only three rooms, which included a living room/dining room/kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom. It was clearly old, and the paint in the walls was coming off, and the wood floor ringed each time that he stepped on it. It was far from what he would want as his first option on a new home but, according to his current plan to make a living, it was going to do for now.

Drying himself, Jeff walked to the living room, on his bare fur, as he picked the clothing that he had chosen to wear on this day. A green t-shirt, a pair of mouse-sized jeans pants with a belt made out of synthetic material. As he dressed, Jeff looked himself in his own reflection through the window, and he made sure that he looked okay and groomed. After all, it was his first day on his new job. Okay, technically it was still his interview, but he was sure that he was going to have a good day none the less, years had helped him to develop social skills that he lacked when he was younger, and he already observed that they still worked in Zootopia.

Looking at himself and clicking his tongue while making guns with his hands, he smiled and walked in direction to the door.

* * *

“So, they are all out in the city.” Bogo said, and Judy looked at him. “Well, I guess that was to be expected.” He looked at Hopps. “Since you now live very close to them, I guess I can trust you to keep them out of harm’s way.”

“You sure can, sir.” Judy said, and Bogo nodded.

“This is all, Hopps. Go back to work.” He said simply, dismissing her, and Judy just nodded at her boss and walked out of the door. After closing it, Bogo sighed, and he walked back to his desk, picking up his cell phone and once more fishing that hidden number in his desk.

A quick dialing, and soon he was hearing the sound of the phone calling.

“ _Savage talking._ ” The voice on the other end said.

Bogo wondered what he should say, and after a while, he just asked:

“I assume that you already know that Hunter and Thompson had moved out of the hospital. As well as Small.”

“ _Oh, Bogo! Nice to talk to you. And yes, I do know that already._ ” Savage said, and this only confirmed that Bogo already suspected.

“You have someone following them, don’t you?” He asked, and the mammal on the other end answered:

“ _I already told you that I have some guys in the city. Also, you probably already know that I have my own way of getting information._ ” Was the answer coming from Savage, and Bogo scoffed.

“If that is the case, why you want me to keep you informed?” Bogo asked him, “I mean, since you have some many ways of getting intel, I guess you wouldn’t need a simple police chief like me to give it to you.”

“ _Don’t underestimate yourself, my dear Bogo._ ” Savage said to him, “ _You are more useful than you might think. Not only you give me information, but you will also be my contact in this whole situation. You can keep close to Hunter and his friends, especially with this new connection that they have developed with a few of your subordinates_.”

Bogo tensed a bit as Savage said that. Yes, he had noticed that Wilde and Hopps had both became friends with Hunter and Thompson. The two meta mammals seemed to have developed trust and friendship with his two officers. Bogo himself had to admit that something like that was actually quite good in the current situation.

“ _Also, with the whole thing of the meta mammals having become public knowledge, I need someone on the public to manage and possibly apprehend some dangerous meta mammals, if they ever appear_.”

“Can’t you and your ‘crew’ do that?” Bogo asked to him.

“ _We don’t exist, Bogo._ ” Was Savage’s answer. “ _So, we can’t go and arrest meta mammals. At least, not officially._ ”

Bogo heard what he said, and he took a moment to stop and think as something came into his mind.

“Yesterday we apprehended a meta mammal. A polar bear who could turn into brass.” Bogo said, “He was being transported to the hospital when the ambulance was attacked. There was no one hurt, but the polar bear was gone, took by another vehicle.”

There was a silence following these words, and after a while, Bogo asked:

“Did you had anything to do with that?”

Another silence, and after a while, Savage said: “ _We both want the same thing, Bogo. Please, try to remember that._ ” His answer was simple, but it completely avoided the question, but to Bogo, it actually answered the question that he made. “ _Let’s continue with the business. My people will continue to keep an eye for things, and I suggest you to do the same. I’ll keep on touch._ ”

With that, Savage hung the phone, and Bogo didn’t even had time to formulate an answer as the line dropped, and he was left without way to answer to what the mammal on the other end had said to him.

Bogo snorted in annoyance as Savage had done that again. In the past weeks, he had been having more contact with Savage than he had in nearly a decade, since he had his first contact with him and with the kind of world that he lived in. He still hated a lot of things that Savaged did, and this thing of simply hanging the phone like that was one of them. He was starting to notice that Savage did that when he wanted a conversation to end because it was making him uncomfortable or because he wanted to avoid more talk.

Bogo leaned back on his chair and he sighed as he pinched the bridge of his snout. Everything about Savage was a mystery to him, even his species was something that Bogo was able to only guess. Still, Bogo often saw himself trusting him and doing what he told him to do, because doing that has already proved to be a smart thing since the beginning. Still, he sometimes wondered just why he would do the things that the mammal told him just like that.

He stood in there for a while, thinking about what Savage had told him. He surely had someone in the city, and they were watching the meta mammals. Well, if that was the case…

Reaching for his intercom, and he pressed it.

The thing buzzed to life, and Bogo talked in it:

“Clawhauser, call Wolfard and Fangmeyer to my office, now.”

* * *

Linda and Alex both were walking down the street, both with their regular “inconspicuous” attires (Linda’s sunglasses and handkerchief; and Alex’s jacket, they were still amazed how well these things worked…), and they were walking in direction to their interview. They took a few minutes of walking, and they eventually arrived in the place they were going to.

They just had to follow the Treetop Street until the met the Herd Avenue, and they just had to walk by it until they were able to sight the place. It was an establishment that looked to be a good pet shop. The place had a soft coloration in the front, and it had the letterings in the front that said: “ ** _GROOMED FEATHERS & POLISHED SCALES: the place for your pet_**”. The vitrine of the place was wide and big, and it was possible to see a part of the place from there.

They entered the place, and they could see the place from the inside, and they could see all that most would expect to see into a pet store, which included collars and leashes, as well as some cans and bottles that were labelled as things like “ **lizard chow** ” or “ **bird delight** ” and there was no doubt that it was food for pets.

Talking about pets, there were some in there, along with their owners. There was a teenage hippo carrying an iguana on his lap, this iguana was wearing a red collar in the neck, and looked the way that iguanas usually looked when in their owner’s hands. Next to him, there was an adult deer who had two parrots and one macaw on his antlers, all of them standing in there as if they were standing in branches, and the deer, as if not even acknowledging them was reading a magazine. On his lap, there was a can with something, and he would occasionally pick up something from there and offer to the birds on his antlers, and the birds would eat it gladly.

There were also mammals working in there, and all of them wore uniforms like Bucky had described. They were walking back and forth, and they were tending to some business, like organizing the store, and also taking care of a few pets, like a nearby badger who was feeding a canary, and an antelope that was clipping the claws of another iguana.

They both looked around, and soon, someone came to greet them, it was a young and jovial cheetah who smiled at them, as she said:

“Hello! Welcome to the Groomed Feathers & Polished Scales, where the happiness of you and your pet come in first place! How may I help you?” She was very friendly as she spoke that, and Linda was the one who spoke first:

“Hmm, yes, indeed, we are in here to see… Lambert. It is about jobs for both of us.” She said, and the cheetah looked at her.

“Oh, you are the two who came for the job!” She said, “Please, wait here, I’ll go get him.” She turned around and left, and the two mammals were left to observe the mammals around them and the pets that they brought.

They saw a teenage beaver with a punk style and the fur on his head dyed black, and he was carrying a glass container that had a tarantula on it. As well as an old rhino lady who came in carrying a two-legged, ostrich-like bird in her arms, and it was looking around, as if to see the place to where it had been brought. Right after her, came a bunny who had a gecko standing on his shoulder.

These observations were enough for the two mammals to understand better how the “pet” thing worked in there. By what it seemed, only mammals could talk in this world, and the other kinds of animals remained primitive and feral, that meant reptiles and birds. So, it was no strange that some of these animals had been made into pets, much like humans in their world would make cats and dogs as their pets.

It actually made sense…

After a while, the cheetah came back, and with her was coming a ram with the same uniform. This uniform seemed to be a bit puffy on his body, and the parts on his body that were exposed (head, neck and arms) allowed to see that he had as good deal of wool on his body, maybe that was what giving the uniform that puffy appearance. His eyes had horizontal-lined irises, and they both focused on the two mammals as he approached.

“Oh, so you two are here!” Lambert told them, and he looked at the watch on his wrist. “And right on time too! You scored some point on this.” He said as he looked at the two mammals, and he told them: “Please, follow me.” He turned around and gestured for the two animals to follow him, and they took a moment to do that.

The ram, Lambert, lead them to his office, and he closed the door behind them.

“Please, take a seat.” He said, gesturing to the chairs, and the two mammals took a minute before they sat on the chairs in front of the desk, and Lambert was soon walking around the desk and sitting on his own table.

“So, let’s start this.” He said as he simply sat and looked at the two mammals. “So, do any of you have some experience with pets?”

The two animals shared a look. Well, Alex had a pet when he was younger, it was Mr. Whiskers, his family’s Persian cat, but Alex had a feeling that this was not the kind of experience that he could mention in there. Linda was the one who spoke:

“Well, I had a canary and a golden fish while growing up.”

Lambert nodded, “So, no previous experience on grooming pets?”

“No.”

“Not really…”

Lambert nodded, and he looked as if he was thinking. “I see, well, you can always learn.” He said, “So, you guys like reptiles and birds, right?”

“Oh yes, I really love birds.” Linda said, “I loved my little canary.”

“I’m a fan of reptiles, actually, I mean, except the ones that could eat me… and snakes.” Alex said, “But only the poisonous ones, I can take care of the smaller ones.”

“Well, you won’t have to worry about that.” Lambert said, “Here in Zootopia, snakes are forbidden as pets, as well as birds of prey and any predatory reptile that cannot be feed on insects.” He explained, “I mean, we wouldn’t like someone’s pet to go around eating someone else, right?”

“Yeah, makes sense.” Alex said.

The rest of the interview was routine questions, and after these questions were done, Lambert looked them, and he said:

“Yes, you two seem to actually be good mammals.” He spoke, “So, I’ll accept you two in here for a week to see how you two do. If you do okay, then I’ll hire you.”

Both mammals looked at him, and they could not hide their surprise.

“I mean, like that? Without checking or references or anything? I mean, you haven’t even asked your names!” Linda said, and the sheep smiled.

“Well, truth to be told, I already have your names. Small gave them to me when I agreed to receive both of you for an interview. He also told me about you two being the meta mammals, and that you two are dating.”

This once more surprised both mammals, who looked at the sheep. Lambert looked at them before speaking:

“Look, I don’t judge others, and I particularly don’t care about you two having super powers or not, even though I think it’s pretty cool.” He smiled as he said that, “So, I’m willing to give you two a chance at working in here. I just ask you to avoid using your powers in here to avoid calling attention, and keeping affections out of the work place. Can you guys do that?”

Both animals took a moment, and they nodded.

“Great!” Lambert said as he smiled and clasped his two hooved hands together. “So, you will be starting your training in the job today, just search for Layla, the cheetah who you talked to in the front. I have two spare uniforms ready for both of you. They are most of a general size, so they might be a little snug or a little loose, but they will do for now. If you two stay with your jobs after the week then we will provide uniforms of a more fitting size. You can go to the back to change.”

He said, and the two animals took a second to do as he said and they both moved out of the room and in direction to the back of the store. In there, they found some dressing cabinets, with two pieces of uniform separated for them in two chairs. Alex got a “medium feline size” pair of pants and t-shirt of green coloration and a matching apron. Linda found herself a pair of shirt and skirt of the same coloration and with an apron that was about the same as Alex’s.

Soon, the two mammals picked their clothing and entering in the booths that were right to the side of one another, as they started to change clothes.

“That went better than expected, right?” Linda asked while she undressed.

“Yeah, I’ll say.” Alex said, “But, it is not a little strange the guy having hired to someone who has no experience and no references?” He asked to her while he removed his shirt and unzipped his jeans pants, being careful with his bad leg. “I mean; most people don’t do that… I think...”

“Well, maybe he is a nice guy.” Linda defended. “I guess there are some mammals who are complete jerks and others who are very nice people. Just like back home.”

“Maybe…” Alex said, “Not many of the mammals who we met until now have been neutral in relation to our powers.”

“What, you preferred that he was a no-power supremacist, or maybe a crazy fanboy?”

“No, I’m just saying that it caught me a bit off guard.” Alex said as he slipped his legs, one at a time (and again, careful with the wounded leg) into the uniform pants that had been provided to him. “Anyway, I’m kind of glad that he knows and is not making a big thing out of that.”

“Yeah, it seems that Jeff picked a good job for us.” Linda said as she put the shirt that was provided to her. As she had found out, putting clothes that went above her head had proven to be a challenge now, with her new horns, what made her prefer the ones that had buttons and she could just slide her arms in and close them on the front or the back.

There was a brief pause, as Alex put himself to think. “Do you think that Jeff actually picked up someone who would not care about our powers?”

Linda too stopped, and she thought about that, and she found herself gravitating towards certain answer:

“This… is actually possible.”

The two mammals soon finished changing, and coming out, they were both dressed and ready to start their “week of experience”.

“Man, the sheep was right, this thing is a little tight in the back.” Alex said, turning around, and seeing that the pants were a little thigh in his rear, hugging them as they almost clung to his fur. “If it were tighter than that it would give me a wedgie.”

Linda looked, and she smiled, “You know, I kind of like it.” She said to him, and the smile on her face made it clear to him why she liked. Alex felt himself blushing under his fur, and he could also sense his ears heating up, as they had done a lot every time that he blushed.

“W-we said we would keep affection away from the work place.” Alex said, looking away as if to hide his blush, Linda chuckled.

“You are so adorable when you are all blushy.” She said to him, and Alex only blushed more. Linda loved to tease him like that from time to time, and while Alex not exactly liked it, it was not a bad experience either.

“L-lets meet our coworkers now, right?” He said and soon they both were walking from the back of the store, meanwhile, they were making a conversation:

“Nice of Jeff having found us a job like that.” Linda said as they walked. “He also said that he was going to find himself one, right?”

Indeed, Alex remembered, during their talk on MuzzleTime in the previous day, Jeff had indeed told them that he had found a job interview for himself, and that he was going for that in the morning.

“Yeah, I wonder what he found himself to do.” Alex asked.

“Knowing Jeff… nearly anything.” Linda said as they walked out of the dressing area and into the store.

* * *

In Little Rodentia, Jeff found himself in the place where he planned on taking his first attempt at getting a job. Sure, while Linda and Alex got one interview into a pet shop, Jeff himself tried something a little different.

He was currently into the waiting room of an office, and it looked to be like the kind of place in which rich and important people would come. In fact, the very room was in one of the stores of a building that, in Little Rodentia, was the equivalent to a medium-sized skyscraper. The place looked like some respected business place, as it was to be guessed by the appearance of the place, with several windows of reflective glass, which made the place seem to be made of glass. If that wasn’t enough, you just had to take a look into the many rodents with expensive suits and their own briefcases walking in and out of the building, all of them seemed like they had important places to go and things to do.

In fact, it would look like any other business building that one would expect to find in the Human World, well, except for the fact that it was full of rodents, and it was a miniature version… and that it had hamster trails on the side that connected it to another close building that was of the same company.

Jeff just continued to sit in the chair of the waiting room while he looked around. The room itself was nice, and it was indeed a version of a very good office made for rodents. The walls were of a shade of blue, and there were two or three vases which contained a variation of weed that served as plant and decoration. It had to be a small one, since bigger plants would surely take too much space into a room made for mice.

Also, Jeff paid attention to the ones that were in that room with him.

There was another mouse, a chipmunk and a hamster. The hamster and mouse were both dressed into fine suits, and they clearly were there for an important meeting where they would find some good job, matching their apparent experience and skills. The chipmunk, however, was dressed in more casual clothes, and he looked as if he was in there for some job of less glamour, maybe serving coffee…

They all sat on their tables as they waited. The hamster was sitting by himself and he was simply tapping his briefcase, which he held on his lap. The mouse was reading a book as he waited, it was small and it looked like the thing that a mouse could carry in the pocket without problems. The chipmunk, on his end, looked as if he was playing some game on his cellphone.

Jeff too was doing something to pass his time: he was watching intently each one of them.

“Mr. Small?” The receptionist called, and she was a mole who wore giant lenses for glasses in her face. Jeff raised his hand upon having his name called, and she said: “Ms. Mizell will be seeing you now.”

Jeffrey smiled as he got up, and he walked across the door and into the office of Ms. Mizell. The place was good and it looked fancy, with grey walls and with a big and open-concept window of glass panels on the back. In her desk, was Ms. Mizell. She was an _Apodemus Sylvaticus_ , a wood mouse. The fur that Jeffrey could see on her head was of a brown coloration, and her eyes were of a black coloration, as it was common for many rodents. She was wearing a blue suit on her, and Jeffrey could see that she was finishing with a few papers as he walked in and came closer.

“Hello.” Jeffrey said, “I’m Jeffrey Small, and I’m here for a job.” He said simply, and she stopped for a moment to look up at him, with a raised brow. Jeff simply gave her a friendly smile, and she gestured to the empty chair in front of her.

“Please, take a seat.”

“Thank you.” Jeffrey said as he sat on the chair. She continued to check on the papers for a while, and Jeffrey just stood in there and looked at her as she continued with this, almost as if she was purposely ignoring Jeff.

After almost one minute, she finally finished these papers, and sighed as she put them on a pile to the side.

“Rough week?” Jeff asked.

“Yeah, things had been rough for a while.” She said to him as she relaxed. “The city has been crazy ever since these mammals with super powers appeared.”

Jeff simply nodded, and said nothing.

She sat straight in her chair and looked at the mouse standing in front of her. “So, Mr. Small, I understand that you want a job in our company.”

“Yes, that is correct.” Jeffrey said.

“So, what kind of job would you be searching for?”

“Pretty much anything.” Jeff said casually.

She looked at him, and said: “Excuse me?”

“Yeah, you see, I’m after a new job so I can pay my rent, since I just got a new apartment and I know nearly no one in this city. So, if you have a job that I can do and that will give me a paycheck, I’ll take it. I can be a janitor, a secretary, an office mouse, an accountant, a manager, a vice-president, if you got, I can do it. I’m definitely not picky.” He finished with a smile on his face.

She looked at him surprised, and after a moment, she was able to recompose and clear her throat. “Well, Mr. Small, I have to say that I admire your… sincerity.” She spoke, and looked at him. “Now, if you let me take a look at your resume.”

“Oh, I don’t have one.” Jeff said.

She looked at him for a few moments. “You forgot to bring one?”

“On, I just don’t have one.” Jeff said, “You see, this actually be my first real job in a few years.”

She stared at him for a few moments, and she asked:

“Do you have any references?”

“No, sorry.” Jeff said, shrugging.

She looked at him for a few moments. “So, you have no resume and no references…”

“Yeah, that is right.” Jeff said, “Now, I know that it kind of sounds like a red flag of shorts, but I can assure you that I’m a good employer, and I can make most jobs efficiently.” He said to her, and she only looked back at him, and her expression was not amused.

“Thank you for your time, Mr. Small, you can leave your phone for contact on your way out. You have a phone contact, don’t you?” She asked him, and she was about to press the button on her desk to contact her secretary, when Jeff said:

“Those papers are for a contract with an insurance company, aren’t they?”

She stopped and looked at Jeffrey. “Yes, why?”

“Can I give them a look?” He asked, and she only looked at him for a moment. “What, you are not really thinking on accepting them anyway, right? So what is the problem of me looking?”

She continued to look at him, and finally picked a few of the papers for him to give it a look. She handed him the contracts, and he started to read it. Actually, he just scanned each paper for about ten to fifteen seconds, and then put them aside, one by one.

“Well, these are interesting papers.” Jeff said, and he looked up at her. “They have special paragraphs that include covering for ‘event with powered mammals’. I thought it would take longer before they would do it.”

“Yeah, just some wackos who want to find something else to charge for.” Mizell said to Jeffrey, and the mouse looked up at her.

“Maybe you should keep them on standby instead of just throwing them out of the window.” He said, and she raised an eyebrow again.

“I mean, you have heard of the bank, haven’t you?” Jeffrey asked to her.

“Furs National Bank, yes.” She said to him. “The cougar and a rhino left the place looking like a natural disaster.”

“And the company that made the insurance of the building in case of damage now is refusing to pay for the damages.”

“What?” Mizell said as she sat straight on her chair, and Jeff continued:

“Yes. They claim that the insurance predicted damage caused by accidents or by natural events. They are claiming that they can’t pay once the damage was all caused by only two mammals who held no weapons and no heavy machinery that would classify ‘accident’, like, let’s say, driving a truck right inside the bank.” He continued to look at the papers. “They are claiming that due to the circumstances of the event there are no reasons for them to pay the damage. They are currently arguing in the justice over that.”

She looked at him surprised, and Jeff looked up at her.

“Well, I think that this might really be an attempt to make money, after all, that is what all insurance companies are about. They get your money and promise to pay you back in the case of something happen. In many cases, they try to find reasons to not pay you anything and just leave you hanging with your problems. They bureaucracy is most for that, anyways.” He said, putting the last paper aside when he finished. “Still, the idea of someone paying to help you in case of a problem is nice, and in many occasions they have no other choice but to pay you. So, if you sign this, in the possibility that one day a mammal with super powers causes damage to your building they would be forced to pay.”

Jeff looked up at her, and she continued: “I don’t know how things will go in the near future, but considering everything, and considering how the world seems to be changing, I guess that would should keep them on standby for now. See how things go with the thing of the bank vs. the company insurance, and see how things stay in the campus of mammals with super powers here in Zootopia. Later, you can decide if you will accept or refuse them.”

She looked at him, and after a while, Jeff finally said:

“As you probably noticed, I pay attention to things and I am efficient in making connections.” Jeffrey said, “I also speak 22 languages, I’m really good at math, I’m naturally inquisitive and with a predisposition to search for answers and information.” He said to her, “I’m pretty sure that you believe that there are several other options out there that might be much more reliable than a strange mouse without references or resume, and you are probably right. However, I’m just asking you to give me a chance to prove myself to you. I can do nearly any task that you give me, just name it.” He said, and the female mouse looked at him for a few moments, and she seemed as if she was musing on something. It took a while before she spoke anything again.

“I see… well, I guess that we can find something...” She said, and she pressed the button. “Molly, please, call Mrs. Chinchilla and tell her that we have someone in here for her.”

“So, I have a job?” Jeff asked, his expression positive but not edgy in any way.

Mizell looked at him for a few moments, and she said, “You will be in a period of experience. If you prove to be competent, then we might consider a position for you in our company.” She said, and Jeff smiled.

“That is good.” He said, and the female wood mouse nodded at him, as she picked up the papers that Jeff had taken a look into, and she looked as if she was looking through them again, and with a thoughtful expression…

* * *

“You want us to follow Hunter and Thompson?” Wolfard, the wolf, asked to the cape buffalo, and Bogo said:

“Yes, I want you two to keep watch over them on this new job of them.” He spoke to the two officers in front of him as he said that. “And also on their new home in Grand Pangolin Arms.”

“Wait, ain’t that where Hopps lives?” The tiger, Fangmeyer, spoke as she looked at her chief. “Wouldn’t it be better if Hopps herself would watch them, in that case?”

“I’m telling you two to do it.” Bogo said firmly, making it clear that it was not up to discussion, still, the two animals who he was talking to could not avoid sharing a look among themselves.

“Hmmm, sir?” Wolfard asked, and Bogo looked at him. “Why should we go watch Hunter and Thompson?” he asked to the bovine in front of him. “I mean, you think they can do something illegal, or something of the like?”

Bogo looked at him, and back at Fangmeyer, and he knew that she was thinking pretty much the same thing. He knew that he could not tell two officers to go watch someone without a good reason, even because then it would be stalking, and it would be illegal. Still, he looked at the two of them as he gave to them an explanation.

“I’m quite worried with the fact that they are out of the hospital.” He said to the two officers. “While they were in there, they would be under constant watch and protection. However, now that they have moved out, I’m worried about their safety.”

“Their… safety?” Wolford asked again, as he and his partner shared a look.

“Yes, their safety.” Bogo said, as he looked back at his two officers. “’I am pretty sure that you two remember Mr. Grooms.”

“Big lion. Kind of rude. Saying that Hunter and the others like him were dangerous and should be the ones locked up instead?” Fangmeyer said. She did remember that lion, and she remembered that he was one hell of a struggler, and that the subject of Hunter and other meta mammals was one about which he would not shut up.

“Yes, his behavior is concerning, as well as the fact that could be other mammals like him around. These would not hesitate in attempting to harm Hunter and Thompson if they had the chance.” Bogo said as he walked around, “Not to mention other kinds of mammals who could use this chance to approach them, like one of those wackos that claim to be their fans, or these damned vultures of the media. If they find out that they have left the hospital and where their home currently is, well, the situation could get out of hand pretty quickly.”

The two mammals looked at the chief as he spoke that, and the cape buffalo would finally stop walking and look straight t each of them. “I want to make sure that they are both under watch, so they are not in immediate danger, as well as anyone near them. That is why I’m designing you two to watch over them.”

The animals shared a look.

“You two have already made several stakeouts before.” Bogo continued, “From all of my officers, you two are the ones who have the most experience in it, especially when you are working together. Also, I do know that you two are both very good in being discrete, as you demonstrate constantly in the workplace.” Bogo said, and this last comment made the two mammals look down as they blushed slightly.

“I’m assigning you to this job because you can follow them without being noticed neither by them nor by anyone else. Also, I want you two to keep it quiet and discrete, because we cannot risk the location of their new home being disclosed just yet. In fact, no one outside of this office will even know what you two will be doing.”

“Not even Hopps?” Fangmeyer asked. “I mean; it will be _her_ building that we will be watching.

“Not even Hopps.” Bogo confirmed. “This is only between the three of us, and no one else. Everything regarding this is sensitive information.”

The two mammals shared a look among them, and they both nodded as they said: “Yes, Chief.”

“Good.” Bogo said, “You two will start right away. You already know how to do stakeouts, so I do believe that I don’t have to tell you what to do in this situation. If anything important happens, you will report to me in the following day. That is all, dismissed.”

With that, the two mammals made their way out of the Chief’s office, leaving Bogo alone with his thoughts.

After a few moments, Bogo sighed as he dropped heavily in his chair, and he was pinching the bridge of his snout.

He had not lied to the two about his worries about them being out of the hospital. However, he had omitted to them information about the _main_ reason why he wanted them to keep watch over them…

“Dammit, Savage.” Bogo said to himself, “You can get under my hide even when you don’t try.”

* * *

Outside, the two mammals were walking in direction to the first place they needed to go in order to do their new assigned job. They waited until there was no one around to hear them before they started to talk.

“This assignment is a bit strange, don’t you think?” Fangmeyer asked to her wolf partner.

“Yeah, I’ll say. Watching over two mammals with super powers as they go with their day? Sounds like the kind of thing that you would ask for a private eye or some other mammal of the like.”

“And that think of being ‘ _worried_ with their safety’?” She asked him again. “This is not like something that the Chief would just say like that. Something is up.”

There was a brief silence, before Wolfard said again: “Well, anyway, the Chief gave us a job and now we must do it.”

She nodded at the wolf, and she said, “Well, I guess this means that we can forget that lunch that we planned.”

Wolfard looked up at her, and he smiled, “Don’t worry, babe, I’ll make it up to you, I promise.” He said to her, winking, and she smiled back at him. He was about to try to hold her paw, when she pulled it away.

“Ah-ah.” She said to him. “Security cameras, remember?” She asked him, and he nodded. He had forgot for a moment.

“I always forget.”

“You would forget your tail somewhere is it was not attached to your butt.” She smiled to him as she said that, and the wolf was able to chuckle a bit. “I really hope you keep this promise though. I was looking forward to this lunch.” She said with a smile that was (would one dare to say) seductive (?).

The two mammals continued to walk their way, seemingly without any contact with each other. That is, unless you counted as contact the fact that, as they moved, their tails would occasionally touch each other and tangle for just a moment before separating again…

 


	19. First Days and Stake Outs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, we follow our three meta mammals through their first day in their new jobs. Meanwhile, someone else is following Alex and Linda...

"So, since you two are starting today, let's start with something easy." The cheetah, Layla, said to the two mammals. "Linda, you have some experience with cockatoos, right? We have a client who has two, a male and a female, and just left them in here for some grooming of the feathers. Think you can take care of that?"

Linda hesitated before answering, "Well, I guess so… It makes some years since I had a cockatoo myself. But I think I can wing it." She spoke, and Alex couldn't help but chuckle at the unintentional joke.

"Good, Alex, you will be taking care of the storage. You need to separate the recently arrived food for the pets by brand and the type of pet they are meant for, and then you can organize them in the storage and also in the shelves. It is quite boring, but is a needed job, and also quite easy. You can take care of that." She said with a wink at him, and Alex nodded. Linda, however, didn't quite liked that wink, giving the cheetah an expression that you would expect when someone flirts with you in front of your girlfriend.

Luckily, that was all that it was needed at the moment, before Alex and Lind both went to do their jobs. Soon, they were getting absorbed into the new jobs that they were doing, and they were not the only ones…

* * *

 

Back in Little Rodentia, Jeff was now being scouted by another mammal in direction to his first new assignment. The one scouting him was Mrs. Chinchilla, who was, as you probably guessed, a chinchilla.  _Chinchilla lanigera_ , the long-tailed chinchilla. She dwarfed Jeff on proximity, for she stood on nearly eight inches tall, representing a significant difference from Jeff, who was less than four. She was wearing an indigo business dress, and she had a pair of "grandma glasses" on her face. The expression on her face was of someone who was used to deal with things her way, and she would not take jokes or insubordination from others, being the kind of professional mammal. Or at least that was what Jeff had deduced.

"This enterprise is a serious place." Chinchilla spoke to Jeff, without even turning to look at him as she continued to walk, as if she just expected him to continue to follow her. "This means that this is not the kind of place that can have just any mammal as an employee, once the kind of employee of a place reflects on the place itself, be it in the efficiency, be it on the image."

Jeff didn't say a word as he continued to follow her. He knew when it was a good idea to keep quiet and let the others talk all they want. That was one of these moments.

"Of course, many want a job in here, but we can't just give any of them a job, once it would not be advantageous for us." She continued as she guided Jeff across the hallway, and in direction to a door. "This is why  _this_  specific job is important."

She opened the door, and revealed a whole room that was filled with files and cases, filled with more files. Most of the files were stacked one above the other, and even lying around as if they had been left in there anyway. The place was not a mess, but it was also far from properly organized. Jeff felt like it was secure to classify it as "controlled chaos".

"These are files of many mammals who came here recently requesting for a job." Mrs. Chinchilla said, "They left their resumes, and of course, as the personnel manager, it is my job and of my team to check the information they give, as well as checking the background of each one of them to make sure that they are viable options, or if they are not fit to be hired."

She looked at Jeff, who continued to look at her.

"Well, you are not going to be put to work on the personnel, at least not yet." She said as she looked back at him. "This job requires you to be trustworthy and efficient, and this is not the kind of thing that you can just come and do." She turned, and walked in direction to a nearby shelve. "Well, most of these files are already complete with all of the relevant information of all candidates, and your job is just separate them."

"So, I organize them." Jeff completed.

"Yes." Chinchilla said, turning back to him, two files in her hands. "You will go through them and you will see if the employee is good to be hired, or if is to be declined. It is a very simple job. The employee either fits or doesn't fits. For example, …" She said, and handed Jeff one file, and Jeff opened it as he looked inside, seeing the picture of a hamster in it.

"Nathaniel Littleton, 34 years old, ex-manager of an important company, laid off due to personal reasons. Has two university degrees in administration. No criminal record of any kind. Father of two children. An example of a good citizen of Little Rodentia and of a positive employee for this company." Chinchilla said, as Jeff took a quick look at his file. She barely noticed that Jeff had frowned upon reading it.

"On the other end of the spectrum." She said, handling him another file. Jeff also took it, and he opened to see the figure of another rodent in there. However, it was obvious that this was not a mouse…

"Andrew Rathaway, 27 years old, worked previously in a drive thru, fired for 'problems to interact with others'. Don't possess degree. Two passages on the police, one for dangerous driving, and the other for possession of controlled substance. The kind of employee that is to be avoided at any cost." Chinchilla said. Jeff continued to look through the file, and he had a raised eyebrow.

"So… Rathaway is the kind of mammal you  _don't_  want to hire?" He asked.

"Obviously." She said to him. "With a background like that, he is just not desirable. Even if he was not… well, you just need to take a look at the picture." She said, and Jeff indeed looked.

_Rattus Rattus_. A black rat.

"So, the job is very simple." She said, "Just go through as many files as you can and determine if the candidate is a Littleton or a Rathaway." She said, "I'll be back in a few hours to check on your progress." She said as she left Jeff alone in the room, taking quick looks at each one of them.

Littleton.

Rathaway.

Littleton.

Rathaway.

Littleton.

Rathaway.

"This isn't right…" Jeff said. He raised his head and started to look around. "There is a better way of doing this."

* * *

 

Linda was now taking care of one of the two cockatoos that were brought in there. This one had a very beautiful yellow crest, and it chirped as Linda handled its wings very carefully. She had learned that cockatoos needed very little grooming, and that they mostly did that themselves, unless they were stressed or sick.

Well, that cockatoo looked to be healthy, but still, it was good to do a thorough job. Linda used the special oil that was given to her to apply it very gently into the feather of that cockatoo. That oil imitated the one that cockatoos produced naturally on the base of their tails, and that they spread on their feather to nurture them and help them to grow. Doing this was important to make sure that the plumage of the cockatoo was healthy and beautiful.

Other than that, Linda just needed to check them for any parasite on their wings and skin, and to remove them if found. It was, indeed, proving to be an easy task, and she was actually liking it.

She had a smile on her face as she saw the cockatoo flap its wings at her, almost as if wanting to fly to perk on her horn.

"What a pretty bird." Linda said to the cockatoo, and it perked its neck and flared the crest, as if it was trying to show off, and saying.  _"You betcha."_

On the other side of the store, Alex was busy putting the cans of pet food in the shelves. All under the watchful gaze of another employer. The job was a bit tedious, but it was relatively easy, and it was not the kind of job with which Alex could have problems.

They both proved to be doing pretty well on their first tasks of their first day, and each one did, on their own amount, felt proud of it.

* * *

 

Outside of the pet store, the animals continued to move on their own, both by foot and by car. Among them, a familiar wolf was walking on the street with a paper bag on his paws as he walked right in front of the store, and looked in it, as if casually. No one would suspect that he was looking at something specific in there, especially since he had switched his police uniform by a set of casual clothing, with jeans pants and a red shirt.

After looking for a few moments, and sighting both the cougar and the gazelle, Wolfard turned around and continued to walk. He crossed the street, and walked to the car that was parked right by the corner of the street. He opened the door, and inside, there was a female tiger on the side of the driver. She too had changed her police uniform for casual clothes, on her case, a pair of white pants, a cyan blouse and a white jacket.

"Did someone ordered for some friend fish sticks?" He asked, offering her the paper bag, and she smiled at him. He entered the car and closed the door, and he opened the bag, to share the fish sticks with the tigress. They both saw in there as they ate, and they tried the best not to call attention.

They were not doing anything or looking at anyone. They were just a couple having an improvised date in particular.

They continued to eat the fish as they had their eyes turned to the direction of the store. Fangmeyer pulled a pair of small, discrete binoculars, and looked in direction to the store. It was easy to see the place from there, especially with those. Sure, they did not allow to look straight inside the store, but it was a good advantage point to look at.

They continued to eat, and Wolfard tried to make conversation.

"So… everything has been crazy these days, haven't it?"

"True." She said to him, and she continued to look for a few more moments, before closing the binoculars and going back to eat the fish sticks. "Everyone is still crazy about this thing of the 'meta mammals'. I mean, mammals with super powers living in secret between us? Man, is just like these sci-fi series, but this one in the real life."

"I'm counting the days until the first dude with a costume goes around." The wolf said. She laughed at him.

The two shared that laugh, and after a while, the subject became a little bit more serious.

"But… seriously, things really  _are_  going crazy, right?" She asked him. "I mean, that Grooms guy screaming to who wants to hear that Hunter and others like him are dangerous."

"He is just a wacko."

"Yeah, but I'm afraid that other wackos like him might appear." She said to him. "Or maybe some wackos like the guy of the bank."

"The rhino?" the wolf asked, and the tigress nodded in agreement. Wolfard would be lying if he said that he didn't worried about that as well. That guy, the Rhinehart dude, he was dangerous, like few criminals had ever been able to.

"Yeah. The guy who almost send half of the guys of precinct one and our SWAT force flying just by waving his arm." She spoke to him. "And now there was this guy of Tundratown. The one that they said that could turn into gold, or something. They say that he killed someone."

"Yeah, I heard about that." Wolfard agreed. He had heard some about it, mostly just some rumors among the cops. Still, he was able to hear a few things that came from reliable sources, and these things were the kind that made a shiver run down his spine to the tip of his tail. "And both of them are still around there."

"And might be more of them." She said, and she looked at the wolf. "How many do you think can be around there? I mean, guys like these, who have super powers and who use them to break the law? For all we know, there might be guys out there who turn invisible to rape people, that go through walls to steal money, that can kill another mammal without even touching them… it kind of makes you think…"

"Yeah, it does…" The wolf said, and another silence followed this, and this one lasted for nearly two minutes, before Wolfard spoke again. "Well, I just know that if any of these guys ever try to hurt a girlfriend of mine, they will know just how hard a wolf can bite."

Fangmeyer chuckled at this, and she looked at him. "Oh, is that true, Michael Wolfard?" She asked to him, and he smiled back at her, and he said:

"Ellen Fangmeyer, you must know that we wolves are very protective in relation to the members of our packs. Which, of course, includes our own mates." He said that in a tone that was like he was reciting an important quote of some sacred book. "If anyone ever tries to harm the pack, then a wolf will defend their pack with teeth and claws until the very end. It is that how we have evolved, and is hardwired into our DNA."

"Well, it is good to know that wolves are so protective." She said, "It is endearing." She said, leaning on to nuzzle him gently. He smiled at this, and they separated as she looked at him with a smile in her muzzle. "You are just the sweetest guy."

"Yeah… I just wish that your brother would also think that." They both shared a small laugh, and after a while, they returned to the subject.

"But, seriously, if more guys like that start to appear, than we will need to get ready for this. Maybe a whole new section of training of the cops to know how to deal with mammals with super powers." Ellen spoke.

"I guess so." Michael said, "I think I heard someone at the precinct talking about starting a special task force that will focus on criminals with super powers."

"So, we will have a special force who deals with super villains? What will be the name? Unity Meta?"

"Maybe Super Pack." He said.

"That sounds like a rejected name for a comic book superhero team."

They both shared another laugh.

* * *

 

Jeff had left the room, and was now walking across the hallways in search for a few things…

Firstly, he got himself a small pushcart that he could use for the things that he needed. He was able to get it borrowed from a guy who was using to another thing, and he promised that he would not take too long, and he just needed it to carry things around.

After that, Jeff traveled with it across the hallways picking up other things. Some of them he could find lying around, and others he had to request to the people to get him. After a while, he had everything he would need.

There were five laptops that could access the internet into the cart. As well as a pair of scissors that were just right for the size of a mouse and a good quantity of adhesive notes of five different colors: green, blue, yellow, orange and red.

With all of that, Jeff moved back to the room, and once in there, he placed it all in the desk that was on that room and turned all of the laptops on. He picked up the two files of Littleton and Rathaway, and he started to take quick looks at them, and to look at the computers that he had turned on.

After a while of checking things, and looking back to the files, he said: "As I suspected..." He looked back at the files, and he picked two pieces of the oversized (for rodents like him) stick notes of red and green colors and the scissors to start to cut off pieces of them…

* * *

 

Alex sighed as he finished organizing the things on the shelves. After that was done, he was requested to help Linda and another employee, an ocelot named Oliver, to help take care of an iguana.

It was a new experience to Alex, and he had to learn the exact way of removing mites from the reptile, and it proved to be a little challenging.

However, it was still part of the job, and later they still had to clean up the small areas where the pets were kept while they waited for their owners to arrive. Not to mention that they also had to go here and there to do small tasks for the older employees. They also had to care for a batch of small geckos that were in the place, and these geckos actually behaved pretty much like puppies, something that Alex surely was not used to see. Linda found them to be irresistibly adorable, and she was never a reptile person.

It was all in a day's work.

Alex sighed as he was starting to find the world of Zootopia to be a very interesting place…

* * *

 

"Eleven thirty a.m., both Hunter and Thompson are still working." Michael said to a small recording device that he had brought. Ellen continued to look at the store with the discrete binoculars, as she and continued to watch on the store, keeping an eye for anything that would be worth being watched.

"You know, you would think that mammals who have superpowers would have an interesting daily life, but apparently, they don't do much…" Michael added. "And this makes you think… how different they actually are from mammals who don't have super powers? Do they put their legs on their pants one at the time? Do they like to eat the same things that other mammals do? Do they go to bathroom just like us so they can-"

"Michael." Ellen said to him.

"I was going to say brush their teeth." He said to her, turning off the recording device, and looking at her. "Seriously, this is kind of boring, isn't it?"

"What did you expected?" She asked. "That we would follow them to a telephone booth that is actually a hidden elevator that leads them to their underground base where they keep their super computers and their crime-fighting outfits, waiting for the mayor to light up that big holophote to create a symbol in the clouds with the shape of a lightning bolt?"

The wolf sighed. "I guess I at least expected it to be somewhat more agitated than the normal stake outs. I mean, the cougar shots lightning from his paws, and the gazelle can pin people to the wall with her mind. I was expecting them at least to find a job that would be somewhat interesting."

"Yeah, it seems that they are starting low." Ellen said, as she continued to look. "Maybe they want a common job, or maybe…" She said, but she stopped when she noticed something in front of the store. The fact that she had stopped made Michael get attentive.

"Ellen?"

"There is something…" She said as she continued to look. "An hippo… he stopped in front of the store, and is looking inside…" She said as she continued to look. "He is looking uncomfortable… nervous. He pulls something out of the pockets. An agenda and pen… he is writing something in there…"

She continued to look, and Michael was by her side as he tried to look attentively, but he was not able to see as well as her with her binoculars. However, it was easy to see the hippo in front of the store. He was wearing some kind of business suit, indigo in coloration, the kind of someone who would work in an office. He had a briefcase by his side, one that he was probably carrying with himself and had put down to pull out the agenda and the pen.

"Okay… he is tapping on the door… someone came to see him… it's not Hunter neither Thompson… He talks a bit with the one who attended him… he gives the paper he just wrote… the guy nods, and he goes back inside… the hippo rushes away… well, I guess that is it…" She said, and she turned to Michael.

"Think it is important?" Michael said, and she shrugged.

"Maybe… maybe not. You know how this stake out goes." She said to him. "Let's keep watch and make sure we note everything down. If we see that hippo again… well, let's see where this goes…"

* * *

 

"I never imagined that geckos could eat that much." Alex said as he looked at the empty can that he was holding, and that previously was filled with something called " **chocoflies** ". The geckos now seemed to be satisfied, and they were now laying in the small basket that had been provided for them, sprawled over each other just like kittens…

Okay, that comparison seemed strange when the one who thought it was actually a feline himself…

"Guess… they were hungry." Alex said, and Linda gently passed a single hooved finger over them as they slept.

"They are just precious…" She said, and Alex nodded. It was hard to argue with that as the small animals seemed that they were purposely trying to be adorable.

"Hey, Hunter." Someone said, approaching him. It was the ocelot again. "Someone left this on the door for you… a hippo." He said as he gave a small folded note, and he took it. Alex unfolded the note, and he saw something written in it with a calligraphy that he didn't recognized.

**YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT**

**YOU SHOULD'T HAVE EXPOSED US**

**WE MIGHT ALL BE IN DANGER NOW**

**YOU DIDN'T HAD THE RIGHT**

There was no signature in it, and Alex continued to look at it. Linda looked at him and approached to look over his shoulder. She saw what was written in the note, and she looked at Alex, who looked back at her.

"Who left this?" Alex asked.

"An hippo that was on the door, he just asked me to give it to 'the puma who is inside'. He didn't leave a name or anything."

Alex looked at Linda again, and he started to walk in direction to the door.

Once outside, Alex looked to the sides, and he saw other animals on the street, but none of them seemed a hippo. Alex looked to the sides, as he looked at the note again.

**YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE EXPOSED US**

That line was the one that affected him the most. For he knew that there was only one meaning for this. He continued to look around, trying to sight the hippo who could have left that in there. He saw no one around, and he continued and barely noticed that Linda had also come out, and she placed a hoof on his shoulder.

Alex looked at her, and she had an expression that told him everything. Alex looked at her, and at the note one more time. Soon, they both were walking back into the store, not noticing the mammals watching them inside of a car…

* * *

 

"… and these must be send now." Ms. Mizell spoke to the assistant who just picked up the papers and nodded as he moved away from her, walking in direction to another part of the hallway, as she sighed, and she turned to walk in direction to the coffee machine.

Upon arriving, she meets a familiar, bigger animal in there, taking coffee from a cup on her own, taking care not to burn her mouth with the hot beverage.

"Christine." Ms. Mizzel said, making the chinchilla look back at her.

"Angela." Mrs. Chinchilla said to her as she approached, picking up a cup and serving herself of some coffee.

"Rough day?" The chinchilla asked, and the wood mouse sighed.

"Yeah, it seems that the city is going upside down ever since that cougar came around." The wood mouse said. "Some mammals are desperate. Some are scared. Some are thrilled. Some are trying to turn this into a way of making money. You know the drill."

"Yeah, somethings never do change." Chinchilla said.

"Yes… what about Small?" She asked.

"I left him to organize and catalog the files of possible employers." Chinchilla said. "It is a simply job, and I think anyone can manage to do that."

"He seemed to be smart."

"Let's see if he is by the time when I go back." She said, looking at her watch. "Which I think it is time now." She said as she turned around, and she even turned to Mizell, and asked: "Would you like to see how he did?"

"Yeah, I have some free time." She said, and they both started to walk in direction to the right hallway that would lead to the room where Chinchilla left Small.

"How long has he been in there?" Mizell asked.

"Four hours."

"Twice as much as you gave to the others." She said, and she looked at the bigger mammal. "Think he might actually be done by now?"

"I doubt it." Chinchilla said. "There are the files of nearly a thousand candidates in there. He alone would take at least one week to go through all of them. It is not the kind of job he can do on his own in just four hours. After all, we have a special team just for that. The only reason I do that is to evaluate the ones who they classified and decide if they are capable of making competent decisions."

They continued to walk, until they were in front of the door.

"So, let's see how Small did." Chinchilla said as she pushed the doors open.

The room looked somewhat different from when she had last left, and she knew what it was… The room was in the most perfect and absolute order, with stacks of files perfectly organized. Small was on a desk that he separated for himself, and he had some files in front of him, he looked at them as they came in, and he smiled.

"Mrs. Chinchilla! Good to see you back! And Ms. Mizell too! What a pleasant surprise!" He said, as he got up, holding two files on his hands. "You arrived just in time. I have just finished with the files."

The two women looked at him surprised.

"Y-you finished  _all_  the files?" Chinchilla asked, barely believing it to be true. There was no way that the mouse had actually went through it all so effectively in just four hours. No one could do that!

"Yeah, I did." Jeff said, "Also, I hope you don't mind, but I actually made a few observations on the files and added some small things in them. I found that there was some information that you might have missed." He said, showing to her the files he had. First, he showed one that was marked with a strip of red adhesive note on the front.

"This, for example." He said, and he opened the file, letting them see the picture of a familiar hamster. "Nathaniel Littleton. 36 years. Married and with two children. Ex-manager of a company. He was laid off due to what was listed as 'personal reasons', something strange to add in an official document."

Chinchilla looked at him, and so did Mizell, since none of them said a thing, Jeff decided just to continue. "Well, this has got me suspicious, so I made a little research of my own. I discovered that more than once, Littleton has been part of support groups of compulsive gamblers. These groups are very discrete, and the last one was roughly one year ago, and at some point he stopped participating in events. I'm pretty sure that he went back to gambling, and also, I watched the monetary area of the industry that he managed, and I discovered that there were some cases of problems with the money of the company during the time when he was working for them, and that after he was 'laid off', these problems seemed to have stopped."

"Not that I want to soil to honor of anyone, but it seems that there is a connection, doesn't it?" She said as he looked at them. Chinchilla snatched the file from his hand, and she took a look at it. Meanwhile, Jeff continued. "So, I have the very strong suspicion that Littleton being laid off was actually an excuse of the company. After all, if they admitted publically that such an employer of them was stealing money from the company to pay off his gambling debts, it would surely look bad for them. They wanted to avoid bad publicity, and they decided not to press any charges or to make any fuss out of it, probably in exchange of Littleton never mentioning a word about the true reasons of the end of his job for them…"

Chinchilla continued to look at the file, and she saw the small notes and also other papers that Small had added. She looked at the mouse, almost as if he was a being of another planet. Jeffrey continued with his explanation.

"Of course, during the time when I was making this research, I also noticed something that was quite unsettling about him." Jeffrey continued. "I noticed that he seems to spend a good deal of his money on alcoholic beverages." He said, "You see, I managed to have a little access to some bills on his name, and a good deal of beverages is in there. It is a quantity considered meaningless to a bigger mammal, but for a hamster… well, you can guess. Also, there is the fact that he and his wife no longer live together. It turns out that during the past years she has been laying in the hospital a few times with some kinds of bruises on her face and also some wounds that were never properly explained."

As he said that, Chinchilla looked through the file, and she saw the things that Small had talked about. It seemed that they had been researched on the mouse's own accord, and it seemed that it pointed that in fact, Mrs. Littleton had been in the hospital quite some times.

"More recently, one of her children landed in the hospital with a broken arm. Right after that, she left his home and took the children with her." Jeff said, "Well, it seems that she finally got tired of the fits of rage of a drunk rodent."

Chinchilla continued to look at the things that Small had found. There were not medical records, or anything that you would need a legal warrant to get. They were things like images take from MuzzleBook, or other things from the internet, like photographs from his wife, who had bruises on her face, and some printed areas with comments of the people in there. There was also a picture of a young hamster girl with an arm in the sling.

She felt a feeling of sickness that rose from her stomach as she saw these images, and she was coming to the logic conclusion…

How did they miss that!?

"Of course, I took the liberty to make a call to the authorities, telling them about my suspicions. It was anonymous, of course." He said, and after a few moments, he decided to change to something else.

"On the other end of the spectrum." Jeff said, showing another file, this one had a strip of green adhesive note on the front, and Jeff seemed to be considerably more positive about it as he opened it, letting them see the picture of a rat in it.

"Andrew Rathaway. 27 years old. Worked previously in a drive thru. Fired for 'problems to interact with others'." Jeff said to them, and he started to explain. "However, I saw a few postings on MuzzleBook of the time when he was fired, and I discovered that, during that day, there was a patron of the place who was being extremely inconvenient with a waitress in there." Jeff flipped the pages to show a few images that were taken from the internet. "It seems that he was touching her in an inappropriate way, and Rathaway didn't liked that. He gave the guy two punches in the face. That was when he was fired."

The two women continued to look at him. "His mother, Seraphina Rathaway is currently on a treatment for a rare disease, disease this that made her drop her job. Around the same time, Rathaway dropped his university and got a fulltime job." Jeffrey explained. "His mother is still fighting the disease, and she sometimes needs to be taken to the hospital very quickly, and this, as you see, can sometimes lead to her son to have to drive her quickly to there, in what others can call 'dangerous driving'."

He offered the file to Chinchilla, who took it and looked at what Small had showed in there. They also seemed like things that one could get without any need for a warrant. "Mrs. Rathaway's disease is one that requires some specific medicines, the kinds that you can only get if you have the prescription of a doctor, otherwise you can't even get close to it." He continued explain. "Some of these substances can, actually, be classified as 'controlled', and possession of them can be considered illegal if you don't have the prescription for it."

After a few moments, Jeffrey said: "It is really admirable of him, isn't it? He dropped his university to have a job to help his sick mother, drives her to the hospital and also picks her medicine for her…"

Chinchilla looked over the file, again and again. She looked at Jeff, and for a long time, it seemed that she wanted to say something, but she had forgotten how to talk.

"May I?" Jeff asked her, gently picking the files back, and he walked around the desk, where three other files were in there, in line, with a blue-yellow-orange order for the colors in them. "So, I know that it is a little different from what you usually do in here, but I put on my own ranking systems for the candidates based on this kind of research, which I did to all of them, by the way." Jeff said, as he looked at the two women.

"This way, I chose to use a system of coloration to classify them, going from the green…" Jeff said, showing them the green file of Rathaway. "… for the safest ones to be hired." He placed it on the file, before the blue file. "All the way down to red…" He showed the file of Littleton, and placed it on the opposite end of the line. "… for the completely undesirable."

He finished, and he just stood in there, and the two women just looked at him as if he had grown a second head. After a few moments, Jeffrey just said, "Feel free to look at them yourself if you want. So, did I do well on my first assignment?" he finished the question with his best friendly smile.

* * *

 

"Who do you think left the note?" Linda asked to Alex as they both were sitting on a table of a restaurant, one that was nearby their workplace. It was around noon, and it was the time for their break for lunch. Most of the other workers had brought their own lunch with them, but some had opted to go out to find themselves lunch somewhere else. Linda and Alex were among them, and they had chosen a close place that served food for both predator and prey. In there, they were talking about that strange note that Alex had received…

"I don't know…" Alex said. "I don't recognize the calligraphy." He continued to look at the note, which seemed to have been written by someone who didn't liked what he did.

"Could it be from some of the others?" Lind asked.

"Maybe…" Alex said, "It seems that one of them didn't liked me of making us public…"

"Are you going to order?" Said a donkey waiter as he looked at both of them. Alex and Linda both looked at him.

"Oh, yes!" Alex said, picking up the menu and quickly scanning. "I'll have the tuna special."

"I'll go for the king's style salad." Linda said, and the donkey nodded at them as he wrote down and turned to walk away.

Alex looked at him as he left. "Have you noticed that horses, zebras and donkeys have hooves instead of hands?"

"Yeah, I kind of did." Linda said.

"How was he holding the pen?"

* * *

 

Alex and Linda barely noticed the animals on the other side of the street, sitting into a nearby café, as they both tried to look inconspicuous and to watch the two mammals at the same time.

"So, I'll have the bugloaf, and some nice fish for the lady." Michael said as he ordered, the cheetah waiter noted down the orders and turned to leave as he said that their orders would be "ready soon". The wolf looked at the tigress, and she looked back at him as she said:

"If you think this counts as the dinner you promised me, you are sadly mistaken. I want something at candle light."

He smiled at her. She causally looked to the side, to the mammals who were sitting on the other side of the street. Hunter and Thompson were talking among themselves, and they seemed to almost be whispering, as if they were talking about some secret. This caught her interest slightly. She couldn't make lip reading from that distance, and she could not pull out her binoculars and use them without calling too much attention, what was the exact point of doing stakeouts.

"I wish I was a fly so I could go near them and hear what they are saying." She said casually.

"I wish you would focus on me instead of them." Michael said, smiling at her and making her look back at him. "Seriously, having your girlfriend paying attention to someone else while you are in a table with her is kind of a blow into a male's pride."

"Another wolf thing?"

"It is a  _male_  thing." Michael said. "Just ask anyone."

"Yeah, maybe I should." She said to him, "It would be nice to meet other guys who have interesting things to talk about."

"Har, har." Michael said, and he seemed a bit hurt by that comment.

"Oh, no need to become a grumpy doggy." She said playfully, as she scratched the head of the considerably smaller mammal between his ears. "I swear you are too sensible about certain things sometimes."

"Well, you  _wanted_  to date a wolf, right?" Michael asked her. "We come with our own perks."

"Yeah, and I wouldn't trade them for anything else in the world." She said, as she leaned over to kiss him in the nose, and Michael could feel his face and ears heating in a blush, as his tail started to wag involuntarily.

The orders were brought soon, and the two cops ate their food as they had an eye on the mammals on the other side of the street, who also were eating their food and seemed to be talking about a few things.

After nearly fifteen minutes, the animals finished their meals, and after a while more, Hunter and Thompson both got up and started to walk back to their workplace. As if on cue, the tigress and wolf both got up and left some money on the table to pay for their bill, as they walked back to their car, which was their stakeout spot.

* * *

 

The rest of the day passed rather quickly and in a somewhat monotonous way. Organizing food. Grooming birds. Picking up ticks and other small parasites from pets. Giving food to the small reptiles. Cleaning up the cages. Giving bath to an iguana (no kidding). The kinds of things that you did in a pet shop in Zootopia.

At the end of the day, at four p.m., both Alex and Linda were ready to go back home and rest.

"Well, I guess that is it." Lambert said to both of them as he came to announce that their shift was officially over. "I heard that you two did pretty well for the first time working in a pet shop." He had a friendly smile as he spoke that, and the other two mammals smiled at him as he said that. "If you two keep like that I'm pretty sure that you two will be hired by the end of the week."

He spoke that, and the two mammals nodded at him. Soon, they were going to the back to change back to their casual clothes, and soon, they both were walking out of the store.

"Well, that went well." Linda said to him.

"Yeah, it sure did."

"It would not be bad to work in there every day, would it?" She said. "I surely like taking care of the pets."

"Yeah, it is a good job." Alex said, "It is honest, at least. Even though I would not be looking forward to cleaning the mess of the pets." Alex said, and Linda was able to chuckle at him. They started to walk down the street, and they didn't notice that there was a car following them as they walked.

"You know, I'm still thinking about that note." Alex said. "I'm wondering just who was the one who left it…"

"Well…" Linda said, approaching him and whispering. "It was surely someone from our world, right?"

"I guess so." Alex said, and he looked around. "We should get back in home to talk about it… And we should talk to Jeff…"

Linda only nodded in agreement, and they continued to walk in silence, neither of them noticing that there was a car that was still following them.

Once they arrived, they walked upstairs to their apartment, and they could already hear some indistinct yelling coming from there.

"Bucky and Pronk are home." Linda said, and Alex groaned.

"I hate how thin those walls are. They can hear things we say even if we whisper. We have no privacy." He spoke, and Linda was forced to agree with him. She didn't felt much comfortable in a place where the neighbors could easily hear to their conversations, and also to their… personal affairs.

As they walked closer, they could hear their voices more clearly.

"I told you I'm not doing dinner tonight!"

"Come on! I had a hard day at work! Two drunkards nearly started a fight!"

"I told you that I would not cook!"

"I'm hungry!"

"Then pick up the phone and order some food! I'm not cooking!"

"Well, I know that  _I_  am not going to cook!"

"Good! Last time you tried you almost put us both in the hospital!"

"Oh, shut up!"

"No, you shut up"

"NO, YOU SHUT UP!"

"NO,  _YOU_  SHUT UP!"

"These two never get tired of it?" Alex asked as he walked and unlocked the door. The yelling continued as they seemed to be arguing about dinner, a conversation that soon seemed to stitch to career.

"Man, they surely are spirited." Linda said as she whispered to her boyfriend. This whispering being covered by the yelling of the two mammals, who seemed to not yet have noticed that they had just arrived. It was good, they didn't want to be bothered.

"Yeah, I'll say." Alex whispered back, wincing as he heard a sound as if one of them had punched the wall hard, as if to make emphasis to what he had just said. It was soon followed by another sound, as if the other had did exactly the same thing to put emphasis on what  _he_  just said.

"So, we call Jeff?"

"Better tomorrow." Alex said, as he looked back at the wall, and he was hearing the two mammals on the other side yelling to each other to "shut up" as they slammed the wall…

* * *

 

"That was a nice day." Jeff said to himself as he walked across the street. Smiling to himself knowing that he had positively impressed both Mizell and Chinchilla with his work.

The wood mouse seemed to be really impressed by his efficiency and Chinchilla seemed to have really liked his classification style (he had once saw it in an episode of a series back in the Human World), and she seemed as if she was going to adopt it from that day on.

He smiled to himself as he walked across the street, and he soon was going back to the place he had found for his own home. All the while, he took a look on the world around him, a world that was, by what all would indicate, his new and permanent reality.

He took a notice that many things that he saw in there had a way of them that made it look as if they were puns of things back in the Human World. This only added to how curious this new world was, and while it could very well by a mere coincidence, he had a feeling like this existence was somehow tied to the actual human world, as if it was all an alternate reality that was derived from their world.

Or that, or maybe Jeff had been reading to many comic books.

Still, it was hard not to notice all the "puns" around as he walked in there. It was interesting, to say the least, and he found it to be a part of this world that he would look into more deeply on his personal time. As he walked, he walked back in direction to the place he had found for himself, in a darker and poorer par of Little Rodentia, where most mammals would not exactly want to go. That was the place where things were dirtier and where some windows had bars on them, to keep the drug users outside.

Most mammals in there did not smiled like Jeffrey was smiling when he walked into his building, and neither did they whistled like he was whistling. So, Jeff did attract a little attention as he walked inside of the building, and one of these was a rat who looked at the smaller rodent.

Jeff noticed the look of the rat, and he smiled to him. "I found myself a job." He said simply, and he walked inside, ignoring the hiss of the rat as he walked to his new temporary home. He walked up the stairs, and as he did, he suddenly felt like his left leg was weak. It almost felt as if it was trembling slightly.

_Oh crap._

Jeff started to walk up the stairs a little faster, and he was already regretting having gotten an apartment that was so high up.

He arrived on the fourth floor, and he was walking in direction to his own apartment, and he put a hand on his pocket to fish the key, and as he approached, his hand was trembling slightly. He was trying to fit the key on the hole when someone said.

"Mr. Small."

He turned to look at a black mouse wearing casual clothes. It was the landlord, the one who owned that building and to who Jeff was supposed to pay his rent.

"Mr. Mouser! Good evening!" Jeff said, and the black mouse looked back at him.

"So, you have spent most of the day out. I was starting to think that you were not going to come back."

"Oh, I was just out for my job."

"Didn't you said that you didn't had a job?" Mouser asked him.

"Well, I do have now. I just finished a little experience in my job and I'm pretty sure that I'll be officially hired by tomorrow." Jeff said to him, smiling as he thought  _Now let me go into my home_.

"Oh, that is really good." Mouser said to him. "It means that you will pay me in the end of the month, right?"

"If everything goes well, yes, I will." Jeffrey said. "Anyway, I don't plan on staying here for more than a month. Not that this building isn't a nice place to live in, it is just that I want a place that is closer to my work and more on the center of the city. You understand, right?"

_Now let me get inside._

"Yeah, I guess so." He said, and Jeff nodded as he fit the key in the hole, and he was about to twist it when Mouser asked: "So, what kind of job did you found yourself?"

_Oh, come on!_

"Oh, it is a job with personnel." Jeff said to him. "I'll be helping the people with the candidates for new jobs. It is a nice job, actually. I just need to look into their backgrounds in search for any pineapples on horses' tails."

"What?" Mouser asked with a raised eyebrow.

_Crap! I need to go in!_

"What? Oh, no nothing! I guess I'm just tired. I spent hours looking into files and I need to rest." Jeff said.

_So just leave me alone!_

"Yes, I understand. Well, good night, Mr. Small." He said and turned around.

"Goodnight, Mr. Mouser." Jeff said, with a friendly smile on his face, and he calmly opened the door, walked inside, and he closed it again.

As soon as the door was locked, Jeff let out a ragged breath as he supported himself in the door. His legs felt almost like they were of jelly and lead at the same time.

_Keep it together. Keep it together…_

Jeff panted as he rushed as he could across the apartment, but his footing was not very good. He managed to make it to the single bedroom of that house, and he was able to dive under the bed to fish out his luggage.

He opened it and he started to dig through it, throwing clothes and other things in the luggage around without any care as he searched for something. He finally found it, a small purse of black coloration, and opening it, he let the contents fall on the ground.

A band of elastic. A syringe. Two vials containing some strange liquid.

Jeff stopped for a moment as he looked at it. He shook his head as he blinked madly. He slapped his own face, slumping against the bed. He looked to the objects and he reached for them.

He picked the strand of elastic and tied it around his arm, cutting off the circulation. It took only a few seconds for the veins on his arm start to stand out against his skin. The fur made it harder to find them, but Jeff managed to.

Holding the elastic with his mouth, Jeff picked the syringe and one of the vials, and soon, the syringe was filling with the fluid of the vial. But it was not easy, because his hands were shaking madly. After a while, Jeff was pointing the thing to his arm, and he soon pierced his skin with the syringe, right into the vein.

His ears and tail twitched madly as he felt the sting, he always hated it. Still, he took it as he pressed the syringe and injected the liquid right into his veins.

With this, Jeff untied the elastic band and let the blood on his arm start to flow again. He leaned back as he used his small fingers to press the puncture place on his skin, and he just laid there.

_One elephant. Two Elephants. Three Elephants… Twenty elephants…_

Jeff opened his eyes, taking a deep breath and sighing, feeling a relief washing over his body as he was able to relax.

He looked at his arm, and he knew that he had to keep his fingers in there for a few more moments.

_I need to stop waiting for so long before each dose._

He looked at the syringe and vials that were on the floor near him.

_Well, if I increase the dosage for once every twenty-four hours, I guess it will last for two more weeks. It will be enough for me to get the money I'll need to make more._

Jeff sighed, and after a while more, he finally let go of his arm and started to pick up the things. First he placed the vials, syringe and elastic band back into the purse.

_I also need to find a good place to hide this._

Next, he started to pick his clothes and organize them. As he did, he could not avoid the feeling of guilt that was installing in his heart…

* * *

 

"7:30 A.M., still all quiet…. Save for that yelling that is coming from the open window." Michael Wolfard said in the small recording device as he and Ellen Fangmeyer were both on their car, still with their casual clothes, and both of them were still on their special mission as they looked at the building. Their hearing was sensitive enough for them to pick up the yelling that was coming from the open window on the first floor.

" _You need to stop making so many sandwiches! It is one of the reasons why we are running low on money!"_

_"I need to eat! You know that!"_

_"Maybe you should make a diet! It wouldn't kill you to lose one pound, or five!"_

_"Oh, shut up!"_

_*BAM*_

_"No! You shut up!"_

_*BAM*_

"Should we be worried about this?" Ellen asked as she looked up at the open window. Michael just shrugged.

"These must be the Oryx-Antlersons. Hopps told us about them, remember? Anyway, even if she hadn't, there are some story about them on the ZPD. It seems that there were already some calls on order disturbance and even over domestic violence about these two, but none of it ever lead anywhere." The wolf spoke. "These two seem to be wackos. But they are harmless. Well, at least they never truly hurt anyone, including each other."

The tigress nodded, and they continued to hear the argument that these two were having, but their attention was focused on the other window that was right by the side. They had been watching on that window for a while, as if they were there only to keep watch on Hunter and Thompson, and this included keeping an eye on the place they lived, and to keep an eye open for anything strange that could come.

Even if they didn't knew exactly what it would be.

They continued in there for a while, looking at the window that was open, and they continued to look in there. However, it seemed that nothing more was going to happen.

"So, what about we call it a night?" Wolfard said. "I mean, we still need to eat, right?"

"Maybe… but what if- Oh!" Ellen started to say, but she stopped once she saw someone else walking in the street. A familiar bunny that was walking down the street in direction to her home.

"Okay, time to go." Ellen said, and she started the car, driving away as Hopps came closer.

As the car passed, the bunny's ears twitched and moved in direction to the moving car. She twisted her head to look at the car that was driving away, and she had a raised eyebrow as she looked at it go.

The two mammals in the car barely noticed, and they continued to drive, and Ellen sighed as she continued to drive.

"Man, that was close." She said, "If Hopps saw us stalking her home we would have to answer some difficult questions."

"Yeah, so, I guess that we will be really calling it a night then." The wolf said, "Well, since we did, what about that dinner?"

She looked at him, and she had a smile on her face. "What? Already?"

"Yeah, if you want." Michael said with a seductive smile. "My place or yours?"

She smiled at him, and she smiled. "Yours. My brother is spending a few days at my home while they paint his apartment. We would not want him walking on us, would we?"

"Oh, great Fenrir! No." Wolfard said, dreading the idea, and Ellen could only laugh at him as she continued to drive away…


End file.
